This week we celebrated the "Night of Saint John".....by roasting hotdogs over a bonfire...
Some days you just have to go with the flow and not ask too many questions.
No one really seems to know why that's the tradition, but as a Saskatchewan farm boy who loves a good wiener roast...I'm not about to complain. I don't think my family ever gets together without a bonfire, hotdogs and marshmallows. Years ago my dad found these massive, very cool white stones out in the field. They're rectangular and perfect for sitting on. He managed to move them into position around our firepit and the rest is history.
When we first moved into the house, there was a space in the backyard that was overgrown with weeds and full of garbage from the construction of the house. The Saskatoon Christian School students helped us clean it out and put in a brick patio and firepit area. I had visions of sitting around the fire with the guys and having those deep late night conversations that only seem to happen when you're sitting around a fire.
Turns out no one wants to sit around a fire when it's 10 PM and still 30 C. Plus wood is not as common in a country with no softwood trees.
We've used the firepit often enough on special occasions to BBQ, but that's done over briquettes with little to no flames. It's not the same.
So, that one night a year when Bolivians have collectively decided that having a wiener roast is the appropriate way to celebrate the life and sacrifice of the disciple John...Jesus' best friend and one of the original saints...has now become this Canadian's best opportunity to teach and share with those around him, that which is inarguably the best of Canadian culture...S'mores.
It seems to be a good trade off...
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