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Lag BaOmer
The day of bonfires and the pilgrimage to Meron, honouring the sage said to have revealed the Zohar.
About Lag BaOmer
Lag BaOmer falls on the eighteenth of Iyar, in the counting of the Omer between Passover and Shavuot. Tradition links it to the death of the second-century sage Shimon bar Yochai, to whom the esoteric text the Zohar is attributed, though scholars date that book to medieval Spain. Bonfires are lit on the night before, and at his tomb on Mount Meron in Galilee crowds sing, dance and in some families cut a three-year-old boy's hair for the first time (upsherin). A crowd crush there in 2021 killed 45 people, which changed how the event is managed. Mystical tradition holds that the day marks a moment of revealed light, and children play with bows and arrows in some communities.
Also part of it, and being written: Lag BaOmer (The bonfire day and its customs.), Shimon bar Yochai (The sage whose death it marks.), Zohar (The foundational book of Kabbalah.), Upsherin (The first haircut often held at Meron.).
Written by the EveryJaadu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Lag BaOmer" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family, and are described as belief and practice. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.