The fires will be lit in more than 60 locations. The Biike Fire custom is over 2000 years old. Its roots lie in a Frisian tradition which was designed to appease the heathen god Wotan. Later the fires were lit to bid farewell to seafarers leaving on whale hunting expeditions.

Today the fires are a tourist attraction. People gather to sing, dance and drink punch. After the fires, people head to local restaurants for a traditional meal of curly kale and sausages.

ks/pw (SH-Tourismus, DZT)