(IsraelNN.com) Hundreds of thousands of Jews packed into the Mt. Meron gravesite of the Mishnaic Sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Tuesday, where Lag B’Omer festivities were in full swing with music, dancing and feasting.

Nearly half a million worshippers (450,000) had arrived at the site by 6:00 a.m. Tuesday, according to Northern District police, including 200,000 who reached the gravesite Monday night.

Overnight bonfires, 24-hour barbeques and hundreds of little boys preparing to receive their first haircut were the focus of some of the holiday’s events.

The bonfires are lit in commemoration of the passing of Rabbi Shimon, who was said to have set a field afire when he gazed upon it after emerging from a cave after hiding from the Roman occupiers some 2,000 years ago. Firefighters throughout Israel were kept busy putting out 51 blazes around the country overnight.

Haircut Heaven
The tradition of trimming the locks of a boy at the age of three on Lag B’Omer is a centuries-old ritual carried out by Chassidim every year at the Galilee gravesite. Leaders of numerous Chassidic sects make their annual appearance in Meron at various specific times of the day. They come to pray, to bless those who ask, to celebrate with fellow Jews and to make the first honorary snip of a young boy’s hair.

The haircutting ceremony is one that marks a boy’s entry into cheder, the school where he will learn Torah. Although for most boys the trim takes place at age three, in some Chassidic communities the traditional age is actually age two. 

It is believed that this is the stage at which it is said that a child becomes truly aware of gender identity for the first time.

Israel News Photos: Courtesy of S.B. Korn / Y. Boltshauser & Co. via Topshot Images

Lighting memorial candles for Mishnaic Sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

Chassidic soul music ...

Teaching a boy about the slings and arrows of life... playing with bows and arrows is another Lag BaOmer tradition, symbolizing the Torah learning by the students of Rabbi Akiva in the forests of Israel. A lookout would watch for Roman soldiers who were searching for the renegade scholars; when any would approach, the students would pretend to be hunting with bows and arrows among the trees for food.

Music to dance and pray by...

The way to Meron......