But today the bonfire tradition is well ingrained in all the settlers of southwestern Louisiana and is considered a longstanding fixture in the local culture, Gaudet added.
Lee, the bonfire festival president, said: "If we didn't have the bonfires, we wouldn't know what to do."
Local historian Charlie Duhe said there are two explanations for the tradition's purpose.
"One of the common things that's said [is that] the lighting of the bonfires lights the way for Santa Claus—Papa Noel," he said today on a broadcast of the Pulse of the Planet radio program.
(This news story and Pulse of the Planet receive funding from the National Science Foundation.)
"Another rendition is that it lights the way for people to go to midnight mass for Christmas Eve," Duhe said. "There's always midnight mass along the river, and these fires light the way."
Bonfire festival president Lee said the explanation of a guiding light makes sense.
"We live along the river, and a good fog comes up in the evening," she said.
Nontraditional Fires
Each year St. James Parish issues about 140 permits to build the bonfires, which the state tightly regulates. The parish even has to take out an insurance policy for two million U.S. dollars, Lee said.
While most permits are for the traditional teepee-style bonfires, three permits are given for so-called nontraditional structures.
Structures in the shape of a log cabin, a Southern mansion, a ship, an airplane, and the Louisiana state capitol have all been built and burned.
Lee said the nontraditional structures last year took a cue from Hurricane Katrina, which devastated nearby New Orleans. (Related: Hurricane Katrina complete coverage.)
"We had a helicopter, and the helicopter symbolized the people who were getting rescued off their roofs by the [U.S.] Coast Guard," she said.
While St. James Parish itself was relatively unscathed by the hurricane, the community did lose a firefighter. Another of last year's nontraditional fires was a truck in his honor.
In addition, many of the 2005 bonfires were constructed with logs and other debris left in the hurricane's wake.
"Last year, we burned Katrina away," Lee said.
Duhe, the local historian, said the whole tradition is a sight to behold.
"You can just stand on that levee and see bonfires for miles. It's beautiful."
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