{{short description|Fire kindled as protective magic}} [[File:Добывание живого огня.png|thumb|300px|A drawing of a need-fire being kindled with a large fire drill.]] [[File:Instalaĵo de rusaj novpaganoj por akiro de ligna fajro 01.jpg|thumb|300px|A modern Rodnovery need-fire drill in Russia]] In European folklore, a '''need-fire''' ({{langx|sq|zjarri i gjallë}}; {{langx|de|Notfeuer}}, {{langx|goh|nodfyr}}, {{langx|gd|tein'-éigin}}, {{langx|ru|Живой огонь}}) is a fire kindled by friction, which is lit in a ritual and used as protective magic against murrain (infectious diseases affecting cattle), plague and witchcraft. It was a tradition in parts of Europe, practiced by Germanic, Gaelic and Slavic peoples until the 19th century,<ref name="Frazer">Frazer, James George (1922). ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion''. [https://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/frazer/gb06208.htm Chapter 62, Section 8: The Need-fire]. Internet Sacred Text Archive.</ref> and by Albanians until the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Xhemaj|first=Ukë|title=Trashëgimia dhe tranformimi i kulturës popullore: materiala nga sesioni shkencor, mbajtur në Prishtinë më 7-8 shtator 1979|chapter=Zjarri në besimet popullore shqiptare|trans-chapter=The Fire in Albanian Folk Beliefs|editor=Mark Krasniqi, Ukë Xhemaj|publisher=Albanological Institute of Prishtina|year=1983|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lGgKAQAAIAAJ|pages=104–121}} p. 108.</ref>

A need-fire would usually be lit when there was an epidemic such as an outbreak of plague or cattle disease. In some regions, a need-fire was lit yearly to prevent such disasters.<ref name="Frazer"/> In the Scottish Highlands they were lit each year at Beltane (1 May),<ref name="Hutton">Hutton, Ronald. ''The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain''. Oxford University Press, 1996. pp.&nbsp;220–225</ref> in Poland they were lit on Saint Roch's Day, and in parts of Germany they were also lit yearly.<ref name="Frazer"/>

The need-fire could only be kindled by friction between wood, usually with a large fire drill made from oak.<ref name="Frazer"/> Usually an upright pole would be spun against a level plank until it catches fire. The pole would be spun by pulling a rope wound around it. This would all be held together by a square frame. Both the wooden parts and the rope should be new; if possible, it should be woven of strands taken from a gallows rope.<ref name="Frazer"/>

The need-fire could only be lit after all other fires were doused.<ref name="Frazer"/><ref name="Hutton"/> In one case, the kindling of the need-fire in a village near Quedlinburg, Germany was hindered by a night light burning in the parsonage.<ref>Heinrich Pröhle, ''Harzbilder'', Leipzig, 1855</ref> In parts of the Scottish Highlands, the rule that all other fires be doused applied only to the land between the two nearest streams.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Need-Fire|volume=19|page=338}}</ref><ref>Kelly, ''Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folklore'', p.&nbsp;53 seq.</ref>

Only certain people could make the need-fire. In the Scottish Highlands, usually it had to be kindled by nine men, after they had removed all metal.<ref name="Hutton"/> In one account from Caithness, a large need-fire had to be kindled by eighty-one men, divided into nine shifts of nine.<ref name="Hutton"/> In some regions, the rope should always be pulled by two brothers, while in Silesia, the tree used to make the need-fire had to be felled by a pair of twin brothers.<ref name="Frazer"/> In Serbia, the need-fire was sometimes kindled by a boy and girl, between eleven and fourteen years of age, who worked naked in a dark room.<ref name="Frazer"/> In Bulgaria, two naked men would kindle the fire by rubbing dry branches together in the forest, and with the flame they lit two fires, one on each side of a crossroad haunted by wolves. The cattle are then driven between the two fires, from which glowing embers are taken to rekindle the cold hearths in the houses.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref>A Strauss, ''Die Bulgaren'', p.&nbsp;198</ref>

When the need-fire was kindled, a bonfire was lit from it. The flames, smoke and ashes were believed to protect and purify.<ref name="Frazer"/><ref name="Hutton"/> Livestock would be driven around the bonfire, or over its embers once it had died down somewhat.<ref name="Frazer"/><ref name="Hutton"/> The ashes would be scattered over fields to protect crops, and young people would mark each other with them.<ref name="Frazer"/><ref name="Hutton"/> Torches from the bonfire would be carried home and used to rekindle the hearth fires.<ref name="Frazer"/><ref name="Hutton"/> In the Scottish Highlands, a pot of water was heated with the new fire, mixed with some of the ash, and sprinkled on sick people and cattle.<ref name="Frazer"/> Sir James George Frazer wrote that he had heard that on the Isle of Mull, a sick heifer would be cut up and burned as a sacrifice.<ref name="Frazer"/>

==See also== *Badnjak (Croatian) *Badnjak (Serbian)

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== {{commons category|Need-fire}} *Jacob Grimm, ''Deutsche Mythologie'', i. 50, sqq. *Walter Keating Kelly, ''Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folklore'', p.&nbsp;48 sqq. *Charles Isaac Elton, ''Origins of English History'', p.&nbsp;293 sqq. *James George Frazer, ''The Golden Bough'', iii. 301.

{{Superstitions}}

Category:Superstitions Category:Traditions involving fire