Oil lanterns are lit as part of the "Lantern Festival" celebrated at the foot of...

Oil lanterns are lit as part of the "Lantern Festival" celebrated at the foot of the Vesuvius volcano outside Naples August 4. The festival, which is celebrated every four years, is dedicated to the dead, whose souls, according to local lore, are guided back to earth by the glow of the lanterns. When the lanterns go out, locals believe the souls return through the lantern-lit doors which are built by the relatives of the dead. The festival was originally pagan but was incorportated by the Catholic Church as a procession dedicated to St. Mary of the Snow.