Culture: Two nations divided...

[barra]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes

Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the British Parliament. This occured on Nov 05, so this date has a certain amount of affinity for me as It is my birthday. As a kid in Australia Nov 05 was Guy Fawkes night or more commonly known as cracker night. This is where we kids would hoard all our pocket money and purchase a vast arsonal of fireworks. Traditionally this night was coupled with a bon fire where an effigy of Guy was burned. Having the bonfire in Australia depended on the weather at the time. Looking back there were countless way's feral 10 yr old boys could find to blow things up.

Of course the PC tree huggers came along and no more cracker night. Who remembers penny bungers. They were like a small stick of dynamite.

Barra

[ferret]

I've always heard the name as Guy Fawkes. Could one of you over-the-water chaps please give us the full story?

1605, England was being ruled by an oppresive Scot and there were lots of nasty laws against people with the wrong religion......err, hang on a minute, that sounds like today. Try this site

[celticleather]

Always seems a bit strange to me that we celebrate his failure to blow up Parliament!

[UKRay]

Bonfire night is one of the most exciting nights of the year if you live in the town of Lewes in Southern England. I know this for a fact because it was one of the reasons I moved away from Lewes and settled 200 miles away.

Let me explain: Every year about a month before the 5th of November the Lewes fireworks start. Bangers so loud you have never heard the like... There were a number of firework 'factories' in town where the local Bonfire Societies prepared elaborate centrepieces for their bonfire celebrations. These celebrations are massive affairs involving literally thousands of people. The roads are closed and the town is completely cut off from the outside world. The celebrations are policed by the Bonfire Societies own private 'police forces' called Bonfire Boys. The real police keep a sensible distance.

One year a woman police officer was using a tannoy to get the crowds to move along the pavements. The crowd objected and started to chant: 'Burn the witch, burn the witch' and moved toward her in a very threatening manner. Very sensibly she put the tannoy away and got back into the armoured police wagon as two Bonfire Boys moved in and sorted out the muddle quietly and without fuss. Nobody argued with the Bonfire Boys' right to be there...

The Bonfire Societies are a powerful force in the town and have a finger in all the town's business. they were set up so long ago that nobody really remembers but it is thought to have been in the sixteenth century. One of the traditions they have is to race with rolling, burning tar barrels through the middle of the town and down the high street to Cliffe Bridge where the barrels are dumped in the river. Fires are lit in the streets and the population is pretty well in a state of anarchy.

Back to the fireworks for a moment. I lived on top of a hill and the monster firworks, fired from the town, would go up into the air until they were on a level with my house and then explode. Having spent time in Israel, Belfast and numerous trouble spots around the world as a journalist, I can tell you that for sheer noise and shock factor Bonfire Night in Lewes has them all beaten. Admittedly, deaths, buildings blown apart and shattering windows weren't a regular event but it happened occasionally along with burning debris falling from the sky and gangs of youths racing around throwning fireworks at anyone foolish enough to walk the streets.

I ought to mention the anti-Catholic sentiment attached to Bonfire in Lewes. An effigy of the Pope is paraded through the streets each year and then ceremonially burned to comemorate the fate of the Protestant martyrs put to death at the stake by Mary Tudor's Catholics. Memories are long in Lewes. One society refuses to parade past the Catholic church and carries anti-Catholic banners that say No Popery. Hard to believe in the 21st century but England is a funny old place and not much changes under the surface...

Okay, the event is definitely spectacular. the sky is alight with the most amazing displays you could ever imagine for hours at a time but, after many years the attraction definitely wears off. I have now moved to a town with a 10pm firework curfew - Bliss!

www.bonfirenight.net/

www.lewesbonfirecouncil.org.uk

www.whatsonwhen.com/sisp/index.htm?fx=event&event_id=83559

Find pictures here:

www.needananswer.co.uk/lewes-fireworks-2005.html

Edited November 5, 2008 by UKRay

[Crystal]

This celebration is very interesting. Here in the states it would never be allowed to go on this way. Anyone annoyed with the noise, explosives and crowds would hire an attorney and file a law suit. The insurance companies would probably have home owner's policy rates jacked up so high, no one would be able to afford to insure their homes from fire and collateral damages. The DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) would ban the tar filled barrels from being dumped into the river because of killing the fish. If a police officer was threatened, the entire mob would be tear-gassed and everyone would end up in jail... We just don't get to have any fun like this.

I looked at the Lewes Bonfire Council site. I enjoyed the fact that people are warned to stay away for safety's sake. Common sense... we need more of that here instead of regulations.

Crystal

Edited November 5, 2008 by Crystal

[ferret]

Always seems a bit strange to me that we celebrate his failure to blow up Parliament!

I celebrate his attempt, it's the thought that counts.

[tonyc1]

With all the excitement of the U.S. elections I nearly forgot today is when we remember one of our national heroes, a chap called Guido Fawkes, the only man to enter parliament with honest intentions. Someone remembered as this pic of parliament square taken this morning shows.

Someone has a sense of humour!

[UKRay]

Here is a bonfire link for those in North America.

http://www.lewesbonfirecouncil.org.uk/soci...cial/index.html

Protest is a big thing with Bonfire Societies - they like to protest about almost everything - nobody is safe!

You would get on well in Lewes, Ferret, they burn effigies of politicians every year too. In fact, they burn effigies of anyone who upsets them and that is just about everyone. I believe they actually publicly burned an effigy of the local Catholic priest one year because he complained about the anti-Catholic sentiment they spread around the town.

[Washroad]

With all the excitement of the U.S. elections I nearly forgot today is when we remember one of our national heroes, a chap called Guido Fawkes, the only man to enter parliament with honest intentions.

What an absofreakinloutely fabulous statement!!!

[Hilly]

UGGGG I feel sick,

Here, let me get sick alongside of you then.