Hey Steemians
It's been rather chilly in Cape Town of late, this is Africa and we love the sun. It really doesn't take much for us to break out the jackets, boots and jump under the blankets.
I decided to make a fire and binge-watch season 2 of Marvel's Iron Fist on Netflix. But while the popcorn was popping I found myself staring into the fire and drifting off for a few seconds and it got me thinking.
We had social media platforms before the internet
Campfires were probably the social media of its time. For 1000s of years, humans have gathered around fires not only to keep warm, not only to prepare food but to share stories and maybe try to get to second base with that hotty out of town cousin of their best friend.
It was a platform over which people came together, shared their ideas, their life experiences and their feelings, kinda like Steemit does now.
Check it out, im a mans man! I didn't even use a fire-lighter this time
My favourite campfire experience
When South African's gather around a fire we call it a braai or a tjop and dop (meat and alcohol) because a fire means we would cook meat and get as drunk as humanly possible. If our national team win, we make a fire, if they lose we make a fire, if we want to celebrate we make a fire, if we have nothing to do, guess what we make a fire and see where the night takes us.
These gatherings usually end up with all of us sharing the most random stories and really is the way we bond as a people.
Share with me your best campfire experience, story, song, moment or recipe
We all come from different parts of the world so I'm interested to hear how you different cultures interact around the fire. To encourage a few submissions I've set a bounty on this post so If you would like to enter the bounty with your story you need to do the following.
- Upvote this post
- Leave a comment or create a post and link in the comments
- Resteem is optional (Only if you think your submission is worth a share to your followers)
If you don't want to enter the bounty and just have a cool story to share, just don't upvote this post!
Let's connect
If you liked this post sprinkle it with an upvote or resteem and if you don't already, consider following me @chekohler
Put your votes to good use
We all can't max out our upvotes every day and a little help never hurt. Sign up to Smartsteem and sell a few of your votes each day, earn some STEEM and SBD in the process and still get in some curation rewards in STEEM Power. Check out SmartSteem
Trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Doge or Dash for STEEM instantly
Check out blocktrades to quickly exchange popular cryptocurrencies for STEEM, STEEM power or STEEM Dollars or trade your STEEM, STEEM power or STEEM dollars for popular cryptocurrencies
We don't do campfires over here. I come from a cold, wet country so sitting outside is only enjoyable for a few weeks in any year. What we have is the pub. It's where we go after matches, weddings, funerals or birthdays. Every weekend and every occasion. It's the place where all the news is shared and communities formed. Most marriages have started by meeting a persons friend or cousin in the pub.
I have so many good memories from here with friends and family. One of my favorite is when my team won the all-Ireland hurling championship a few years back. It is the biggest trophy in the country in one of the oldest sports in the world dating back thousands of years and only our 4th title in 120 years. The celebrations lasted for a fll week and took place across the whole country as we traveled from the final back to home with the team. Good times.
Lol gotta love the Irish I tell you, they stick to their guns when it comes to pubs! Those things are a national treasure the way I see it
I’m pretty sure there’s a good old fire going in a pub isn’t it?
Thanks for sharing the cool memories lol sound epic!
Posted using Partiko iOS
There is in the winter time anyway. Nothing beats walking in the door on a Friday night to feel the warm fire and settle down with your people around it, talking, laughing, taking the piss out of each other and settling in for the evening. It's an institution. Out the countryside there is nothing else there other than sport and pubs.
Posted using Partiko Android
I was in girl scouts in Finland and on summer camps we had lots on singing and storytelling by the fire, but 9 times out of 10 those were ghost stories as we wanted to hear them. Alway some headless dude wandering in the forest looking something or someone hanged himself in the tree or someone drowned and is now pulling innocent swimmers to the bottom of the lake at midnight... Yeah :D So then you stayed awake all night in your tent with your friends listening if the headless man would be indeed wandering somewhere nearby. Fond memories :D
Awww that’s such a cute story I’m sure you guys we scared out of your wits! Those stories and memories are the things that make growing up awesome looking back on it fondly
I did join the scouts as a kid but didn’t get very far and ditched it for soccer so I never got to have those kinds of camping experiences!
Posted using Partiko iOS
Your balance is below $0.3. Your account is running low and should be replenished. You have roughly 10 more @dustsweeper votes. Check out the Dustsweeper FAQ here: https://steemit.com/dustsweeper/@dustsweeper/dustsweeper-faq
My best campfire story ...... It was april fools and I tricked everyone in the house by going downstairs to my basement and turning the main breaker off for our power to the house so everyone thought we lost power thus creating a camp like experience with 0 electronics working for hours. Stories were told and fun was to be had. Then April fools ended and I walked down and turned the power back on .. :)
LOL that’s an awesome story I think I’m going to save that tactic for one night just so everyone can just unplug for once!
Funny enough in South Africa we have a thing called load shedding from time to time where they put the electricity off in certain areas to reduce consumption and we would be forced to entertain each other by candle light but it hasn’t happened in a while, touch wood
Posted using Partiko iOS
WOW, that is pretty cool, like a Swedish Guy Fawkes day! I didn't know that you guys had such a deep history of the supernatural! At least i now know how to get rid of witches :)
We have a long history of supernatural the things. Worst part is when some woman were burned to dead in fire because people thought they were withes. 1400 century
https://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Häxprocess
Posted using Partiko Android
I DIED at the second base reference.
Are we even there yet?:$
🙈🙊
For ne making a fire is best when you enjoying the great outdoors with your peoples! We gotbthe braai going, and aftet the feast we indulge in a long night of "kak praat" a.k.a. hilarious banter!!
Posted using Partiko Android
Lol all the laughing it’s vital to work off all that food
Posted using Partiko iOS
SA is my birth country! 😃 Unfortunately, I didn't spend much time there.
In Poland, where I lived for a long time, sausages are cooked over a fire and most people drink alcohol. Beer or something stronger. Usually then it is a good opportunity to meet friends and spend time together.
Tell me @chekohler what type of alcohol is now popular in SA?
Oh wow, thats amazing, well I'll count it as you still have some South African in you 😋
The Polish don't sound very different from South Africans when it comes to making a fire, very cool.I have a Polish/South African friend and he loves his beers lol, but his told me about their vodkas. Apparently one is named after a bull or something and has 1 blade of grass floating in it, supposed to be very strong
Interesting question. So local beers has been and always will be the most popular, those being your Black Label and Castle Larger. But we've now seen a large selection of craft beers hitting the market and its really growing.
As for spirits I would say Brandy is by in large the most popular, South Africans love their brandy and coke and then surprisingly Gin is becoming more popular. I recently did a post on it you can find it here - ULOG #01 - A Little Bit Of Gin-trification - My First ULOG
😃 Your friend told you about "Żubrówka". The name comes from an animal, which we call "żubr" and means European bison. It is true, it is very popular in Poland and looks like that:
My dad was drinking Brandy while there. I need to check your ulog! :)
LOL! Yes thats the one, OMG! I still don't know how to say the name but I'd like to try it out some time just to see what it tastes like, what do you drink it with? I feel like it should be drank just on ice
LOL seems like your dad really embraced South African culture! A little Klipdrift is always a winner
Oh, thank you! The taste of vodka is not good in itself, it is not similar to, for example, Whisky. Vodka is usually drunk in two ways. In Poland it is popular to drink pure vodka from a shot-glass and then drink juice or another drink, such as Coca-Cola or something similar.
The second way is to mix the vodka with different beverages and extras in order to create a sweet drink. This is usually drunk by women. Let me know how you like it when you try it. ;)
My was not really fire camp stories stuff but full moon story time where we children gather round the elderly person who will tell us the story and it always has songs in between which we all sing together.
You are really right social media exist before internet
that's very cool, the moon is pretty important in many cultures around the world. I'm sure you have great memories about those times!
@chekohler has set 2.000 STEEM bounty on this post!
Bounties are a new way you can earn rewards irrespective of you Steem Power. Go here to learn how bounties work.
Earn the bounty by commenting what you think the bounty creator wants to know from you.
Find more bounties here and become a bounty hunter.
Happy Rewards Hunting!
Congratulations to the following winner(s) of the bounty!
Find more bounties here and become a bounty hunter.
Find more bounties here and become a bounty hunter.
Find more bounties here and become a bounty hunter.
Find more bounties here and become a bounty hunter.
Find more bounties here and become a bounty hunter.
Find more bounties here and become a bounty hunter.
Find more bounties here and become a bounty hunter.
Find more bounties here and become a bounty hunter.
Campfires are good. :)
Indeed! I love them, do you have any cool campfire stories or experiences where you’re from?
Posted using Partiko iOS
You got a 9.09% upvote from @brupvoter courtesy of @chekohler!