Spark fires - a flaming custom during Lent
An old tradition
On the first Sunday of Lent, over a hundred sparks light up the late-winter Allgäu night sky. In Bavaria and Tyrol, blazing bonfires are a symbolic farewell to the bitterly cold season.
When metre-high fires blaze into the sky in spring, this is no cause for concern, but part of the custom of driving away winter at the beginning of Lent. That's when it's Bonfire Sunday. Always on the first Sunday after carnival time, young and old, locals and guests make their way to the spark at dusk. They eagerly gather around the warming pyres and wait with sweet punch, schnapps and lard biscuits for the spark witch to go up in flames and for spring to arrive.
This year's bonfire will take place on
Sunday, 9 March 2025
from 7 pm on Tegelbergstrasse.
Shortly after 7 pm, there is usually a huge bang in Schwangau too. Many onlookers flinch when the Funkenkasper lights the spark with his torch and a loud shout. Slowly at first, then faster and faster, the fire eats its way upwards layer by layer until it blazes over ten metres high. There, at the top, the spark witch dangles from a long wooden pole. The dry spruce needles from the discarded Christmas trees and untreated demolition wood burn like tinder, so that after just under half an hour the spectacle of flames reaches its climax: the witch burns, the night sky lights up. Ciao winter!
Fire and flame
In many places, the bonfire is an integral part of tradition and a symbol of community and cohesion. Every year, a group of young men in Schwangau get together to keep the tradition alive. With great enthusiasm and commitment, they set to work weeks in advance and collect fuel until bulldogs and beams bend. The twenty or so lads are led by a very special figure who personally advertises the upcoming flame spectacle throughout the village: the so-called Funkenkasper. He is the living advertising medium and guardian of the hard-working Funkenfeurer.
Thinking about the fire during carnival
Preparations for the flame spectacle begin weeks in advance. "As early as Rose Monday, the reigning Funkenkasper walks through the village and really gets the publicity going," explains Magnus Helmer, adding: "He is flanked by around twenty young lads who collect the firewood needed to build the large woodpile, the centrepiece of every Funkenfeuer." Around this centrepiece, whatever is available from the fuel collection is artfully piled up. Demolition wood, pallets, tree cuttings and brushwood are brought together with several bulldogs to create the most impressive and artistic pyre possible. Discarded Christmas trees are a particular favourite.
The approximately 15 metre long spit on which the spark witch is enthroned is cut fresh from the neighbouring Bannwald forest. The life-size straw puppet, which symbolises winter, is also homemade. A headscarf, a large hooked nose and, last but not least, the brushwood broom identify the figure as a witch. In some places, the spark witch is also filled with gunpowder to make the moment of death and the triumph over darkness and evil even more dramatic.
On Funken Sunday itself, the Schwangau Funkenfeurer have to get up at the crack of dawn and get to work again. A deep hole has to be dug, the freshly felled wooden pole fetched from the forest and the witch attached and aligned before the so-called wreath-making begins. The collected firewood, a pile of wood the size of a pasture barn, is stacked by hand in the shape of an octagon. Layer by layer, metre by metre, tighter and tighter, up to the apex above which the witch is enthroned. It takes several hours of hard manual labour before everything is in place. The culinary delights for the hundreds of guests also need to be prepared. There is therefore a lot to do before the Funkenkasper gives the command to light the spark and the first spark is ignited. The dry spruce needles from the disused Christmas trees burn like tinder. Gradually, the heavy, burning beams also give way and the climax is reached: the witch burns. The spectators cheer - Ciao Winter!
Over bratwurst and beer, warm punch and fresh lard biscuits, people stand together at the warming pyre and look forward together to spring and the end of winter on a sparkling Sunday in Schwangau.
