Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

Fire-Worship, 199
The Irish assuredly were not behind the most cultured
peoples in this respect. The sanctity of their places for
fire was notorious. The ancient lighting of fires was
attended with solemn ceremonies. Even now, the trampling
upon cinders in a household is regarded, in some way,
as an indignity to the head of the establishment.
According to the old records of the Four Masters of
Ireland, a curious spectacle was witnessed one St.
day, having reference to this curious superstition.
George's
At Ross
Dela, now Ross-dalla, of Westmeath, a tower of fire blazed
up from a belfry for hours, while a great black bird,
accompanied by a flock of smaller birds, kept flying in
and out of the fire, the smaller taking shelter under the
wings of the leader. When the great bird had finished
its fiery purifications, it took up an oak tree by the roots,
and flew off with it.
Persia was once the high seat of fire-worship. The
Parsees of India were refugees from Persia at the time
of the Mahometan conquest of that country, and these
still retain the old fire religion. The natural flames that
issued from the earth, and were regarded as divine, have
pointed out to the practical moderns the mineral oil
deposits of Baku. At the SJicb-Scze, or Fire-feast of
Persia, says Richardson, birds and beasts were let loose
with inflammable material about them.
American Indians, in some cases, retain this custom of
their ancestors. Squier notes the supreme, holy. Spirit of
Fire, Loak Ishte-Jioola-aba, and the ignition of new fires
at the solar festival. The priests got fire by friction.
The Pawnees had a sacrifice of human beings in the fire
at the vernal equinox. The Aztecs had a god of fire in
Xiuhteuctli. The image of Hercules, the sun-god, was
solemnly burnt once a year at
Tarsus.
The Scriptures have many references to this worship.