The Easter bonfire is one of the oldest and most impressive customs in Salzburger Lungau. Every year at Easter time, the young people of Lungau create true masterpieces: fires up to 12 meters high, which are lit on the night from Holy Saturday to Easter Sunday.
Lighting the Easter bonfire is more than just a spectacle. It is a moment when the community comes together to celebrate the ancient tradition.
Even in pre-Christian times, people lit fires in honor of the goddess Ostara and paid homage to her with their own festival of light. In 739, St. Boniface reported on the Easter fires of the Germanic tribes, whose customs he tried to eradicate with great zeal. From this time onwards, the church consecrated the Easter bonfire and thus gave it a Christian character.
The custom of Easter fires has been preserved to this day. The following allegedly true story is also linked to these Lungau Easter bonfires: When the French invaded Lungau in 1797, they were so surprised by the gunfire that they thought they were surrounded and encircled by enemies on all sides. They fled head over heels.
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