One night in 1476, in the German town of Niklashausen, the village where Böhm was a shepherd and street entertainer, he had a vision of the Virgin Mary. Böhm's conversations with one of the most powerful and beloved saints, inspired him to burn his drum in a medieval ritual, the Bonfire of the Vanities; a public demonstration in which people threw their possessions, their vanities, into a communal bonfire to signify their dependency on God and adherence to the cult of poverty. More importantly the Virgin's apparition told him to preach the virtues of life. Her message was that of social equality.