November festivals (part 4)
For today’s look at November festivals we’ll start looking into a very British event, so let’s start the week with a bit of light and warmth.
Bonfire Night – High St, Lewes, East Sussex, England
Bonfire Night is a very classical English affair in which burning effigies and fireworks illuminate the winter night to remember centuries-old skullduggery.
The plot was hatched by a particular group of Catholics who weren’t pleased with the hardline Protestantism favored at their time by James I, so they decided to blow up the House of Parliament while the king, his eldest sons and most of parliament were still in the building.
Everything was going well till the 5th of November 1605 when Guy Fawkes was caught in the vaults, when he was about to light a fuse and set of several barrels of gunpowder. He was tortured for a few days, and then he was hung, drawn and quartered with his co-conspirators.
Before the big night, children build scarecrow-like ‘Guys’ and stuff them with flammable materials, which will then be burnt on a pyre in order to celebrate the grant government building’s close escape from an explosive end.
During the fiery celebration crowds of young and adults cheer on the flames, the adults drinking mulled wine and the children waving sparkles, all of them battling hypothermia.
The event also has regional variations, for instance one of them commemorates the burning of 17 Protestant rebels by Catholic queen Mary I, back in 1555. This event is much more of a politically charged one with effigies of the pope as well as prime ministers, presidents and terrorists being burnt.
In parts of the Midlands tradition has it that people eat Groaty pudding, made from crushed grains and other goodies while in Ottery St. Mary, Devon, families have a penchant for rolling flaming barrels of tar through the centre of town.
