Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/531

Rh that one saw one's own coffin, and many were the pathetic events connected with this pagan survival. In Ireland it was also the time for another custom: it was then that fire was lighted at a place called after Mog Ruith's daughter Tlachtga. From Tlachtga all the hearths in Ireland are said to have been annually supplied, just as the Lemnians had once a year to put their fires out and light them anew from that brought in the sacred ship from Delos. The habit of celebrating Nos Galan-gaeaf in Wales by lighting bonfires on the hills is possibly not yet quite extinct; and within the memory of men some of whom are still living, those who assisted at the bonfires used to wait till the last spark was out, when, unlike Diarmait, the whole company would suddenly take to their heels, shouting at the top of their voices: