Anne's Daily Encounters

By dutchdelight

Bonfire on the beach

It's a custom since long that the people of Duindorp, a quarter of Den Haag, build a pile of wooden crates what they lit on New Years Eve.... a giant bonfire. Here a report on that what I found on the internet.

Five years ago when the pile of woods was 48 meters high and lit, the strong wind caused a rain of fire and nothing was done to end the bonfire then. A scandal was born and the city's mayor (of Den Haag/The Hague) had to resign. The current mayor has given permission for the bonfires to go ahead but only under ‘strict conditions’ as to size. The piles cannot be higher or wider than 10 meters as not to jeopardize public safety. 

For tomorrow's New Year's Eve, midnight too, a strong wind is forecasted and thus the bonfire was to be held this eve... at that hour I wasn't there anymore, but a little prior I was and saw that the extra woods were lit already.

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