Bone Room Meditations XVI: Ignis Ossium

Ignis Ossium (Black and White I), acrylic media, mica and gesso on canvas

But ere I die, those foul idolaters
Shall make me bonfires with their filthy bones…
Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine (Pt 1: Act 3, scene 3)

In the ancient druid religions, bonfires were held between 31 October and 5 November to celebrate Samhain, a harvest festival where they used bonfires – ” bone fires” – to burn the bones of the slaughtered livestock they had prepared and stored for the winter months. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.

With thanks to Dr Jacqui Mulville