Today was the annual Sainokami Festival 

 Also called the Fire Festival, Sainokami is a tradition of the Niigata prefecture and is held at the beginning of each year.

It is a festival to help people keep their good health and have a good harvest that year.

Each year the bonfire is built and lit by local men who were born in the same Zodiac year as the current year.  It is a huge fire and the flames can reach many meters in height.

All the villagers attend and toast rice cakes and dried squid over the flames using long bamboo sticks

The fire determines the prosperity of the year ahead, based upon the direction the smoke blows and the noise made by the burning bamboo