In the past couple of days, festivals were held in two villages separated by language, culture, religion, and great distance, but both centered on the use of fire as a method of purification and blessing—and both were carried out with a liberal partaking in alcohol. In San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain, on the eve of Saint Anthony's Day—to honor Spain's patron saint of animals—people ride horses through bonfires during the “Luminarias,” a centuries-old tradition meant to to purify and protect the animals. In Nozawaonsen, Japan, village men of the unlucky ages of 25 and 42 stage a fiery battle, with one group building and protecting a wooden shrine, and another trying to burn it down with bundles of flaming sticks. The festival is meant to chase out evil spirits, celebrate first births, and pray for happy marriages.
A Pair of Fiery Festivals
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Left: In Nozawaonsen, Japan, people rush forward with flaming sticks as they try to set fire to a wooden shrine that is protected by men from the village during the Nozawaonsen Dosojin Fire Festival on January 15, 2018. Right: In San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain, a man rides a horse through a bonfire as part of a ritual in honor of Saint Anthony the Abbot on January 16, 2018. #
Carl Court / Getty, Francisco Seco / AP -
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A horse waits for the start of the "Luminarias" celebration on the eve of Saint Anthony's day, in honor of Spain's patron saint of animals, in the village of San Bartolome de Pinares, northwest of Madrid, Spain, on January 16, 2018. #
Juan Medina / Reuters -
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In the village of Nozawaonsen, Japan, a man ties a rope during construction of the shrine in preparation for the Nozawaonsen Dosojin Fire Festival on January 15, 2018. The shrine is being built to be burned later that night, during the festival. #
Carl Court / Getty -
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Village men sit atop the shrine during the festival on January 15, 2018. The festival is staged by village men of 'yakudoshi' or 'unlucky' ages of 42 and 25 to celebrate the birth of a family's first child, to chase away evil spirits, and to pray for a happy marriage. The elder yakudoshi take their places atop the wooden shrine to chant and sing, while the younger yakudoshi remain below to try and defend the flammable shrine from the impending fiery attack. #
Carl Court / Getty -
People carry flaming sticks as they prepare to attempt to set fire to a wooden shrine that is protected by men from Nozawaonsen village during the Nozawaonsen Dosojin Fire Festival on January 15, 2018. #
Carl Court / Getty -
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People rush forward with flaming sticks as they try to set fire to a wooden shrine that is protected by the younger yakudoshi men from Nozawaonsen on January 15, 2018. #
Carl Court / Getty -
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The attackers win, setting fire to the shrine that was protected by men from Nozawaonsen village. The group of elder yakudoshi men were escorted from the top of the shrine before it was completely engulfed. #
Carl Court / Getty -
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