“On the weekend of the feast of Corpus Christi volunteers carried tin cans, rags and diesel up the mountain. On Sunday afternoon we marched up and positioned the tin cans on the Kinig next to the Ifinger mountain. There were always a couple of old hands with us who knew precisely where to place the cans stuffed with rags so that the heart shape actually looked like a heart. Then the cans were filled with diesel. As soon as it was starting to get dark, the contents of the tins were lit and the heart with the cross on the top of it shone out from the mountainside – a real Sacred Heart fire! On the Ifinger mountain these fires are lined up along the ridge and form a chain of lights. There is even a burning cross on the Lavand peak, and on the slopes of the Ifinger when the weather is good. The mountaineers go there, organised by the Alpine Association, as that terrain requires surefootedness! As soon as the fires are lit, it's back down towards the valley. Everyone meets at the Ifingerhütte for a bowl of soup offered by the Schützen, the Riflemen's Association of South Tyrol“, Brigitte Dosser Egger from Haus Hohenrain tells of her experience last year, when she went along and took part in this tradition.

Sacred Heart

Just like in the mountains around Schenna, Sacred Heart fires will burn on mountain ridges and slopes all over South Tyrol on the 3rd Sunday after Whitsun. This practice goes back to 1796, when the Tyroleans had given up hope in the face of an imminent attack by Napoleon's mighty forces and made a pledge in return for the protection of the Sacred Heart. With the help of God and renewed courage, the Tyroleans were able to hold their ground in battle and Sacred Heart fires have been lit all over South Tyrol every year to commemorate the unexpected victory ever since. Usually it is youngsters from the Alpine Association, volunteer firefighters, Riflemen Association members and young farmers who set the fires in the form of hearts, crosses and eagles on the mountainsides. In lots of places huge bonfires are lit which are visible for miles around, their wood burning like their creators' love of their homeland. Small cannons are fired and flags hoisted, too. These young people will stay watching over the fires until they go out in the early hours of the morning. But the pride in their 'Heimat' that these people feel never dies down, and may be seen in the way their eyes light up and their slightly embarrassed answers to the question as to why they do it. Until one volunteers, “Well, the homeland is the homeland. That's why there have to be fires on Sacred Heart Sunday.“

Down in the valleys both young and old keep an eye open for Sacred Heart fires after dark and keep a tally as to who finds the most. There's not just Brigitte, but lots of other private landlords and landladies can tell you all about it.