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Bonfire Night (or Guy Fawkes Night or Firework Night) : November 5th

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Comments

  • Agent_99Agent_99 enjoys a spirited ride as much as the next girl
    Posts: 3,108
    I've bought some sparklers!
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Agent_99 wrote: »
    I've bought some sparklers!

    Nice one gal,dont forget to run around the bonfire like a lunatic waving them about,going "whooooooo" !
  • Agent_99Agent_99 enjoys a spirited ride as much as the next girl
    Posts: 3,108
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Nice one gal,dont forget to run around the bonfire like a lunatic waving them about,going "whooooooo" !

    Spooky. It's like you've seen me in action!
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Agent_99 wrote: »
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Nice one gal,dont forget to run around the bonfire like a lunatic waving them about,going "whooooooo" !

    Spooky. It's like you've seen me in action!

    I used to do the same thing !

    (Although I've always been a lunatic,i admit).
  • patbpatb
    Posts: 4,600
    Bonfire Night was part of a cultural heritage and a good way for kids to gain fun access to part of our history. It was also a great way for neighbours to come together for a local, informal display. Now it seems to be dominated by organised displays which dont have the same appeal to me.

    God knows how I survived my child hood, thinking about the experiments I carried out with fireworks. Tremendous fun but dangerous fun.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Same here,especially with bangers (they were white with read writing on them,i distinctly remember that to this day),the places were we lit them, the way we used to throw them,and putting them through letter boxes.

    Its amazing nobody was maimed or blinded and no houses burned down !!
  • patbpatb
    Posts: 4,600
    It's interesting: as an adult, I know it's stupid and dangerous and would never want my two boys to do it, but I can't deny that I had tremendous fun with fireworks. A wonderful combination of physics and chemistry. I used to cellotape 2 or 3 rockets together in a NASA like attempt to boost thust and then add an Airbomb for good measure
  • bondsumbondsum
    Posts: 3,333
    barryt007 wrote: »
    All i was doing was carrying on what my parents did when i was a kid but alas it is dying out and Halloween,as you say,is now the dominant force over our own tradtional day.

    Halloween is a British tradition,its Pagan and originated here,but the American influence has definately penetrated the real meaning of it.
    Yes, Halloween was celebrated across the entire British Isles, including Ireland before Guy Fawkes decided to blow up Parliament in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Almost immediately afterwards, people began burning effigies of Guy Fawkes in England, possibly as a substitute for burning Catholics? However, Scotland and Ireland continued to celebrate Halloween even though the English moved away from it and turned their celebrations towards Fawkes instead. It also wasn't helped by Samhain falling so close to 5th November, sucking all the enthusiasm away from Halloween. It's my understanding that it became popular in America due to the many Irish and Scottish immigrants moving to America, where its popularity grew to what it is today. After the War of Independence, America cut most of its cultural ties with the motherland and instead began creating new ones of its own. Of course, Guy Fawkes just didn't figure in their history books, despite them both sharing a common ground with each other in the abolishment of Parliament.

    Now, that the UK has been culturally assimilated with the States due to the rise of the internet, plus its TV shows and movies, Britain seems to have drifted away from celebrating Guy Fawkes and has once again returned to celebrating the pagan festival of Samhain. Call it full circle. And now, Fawkes is seen as a political provocateur and hero thanks to V for Vendetta.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Hence in many protests Guy Fawkes masks are worn - daft really.

    But thanks to the above mentioned film Fawkes has been turned into a small martyr.
  • RogueAgentRogueAgent
    Posts: 12,506
    Belated for me I know, but gave this up years ago due to the distress it causes to pets and wildlife.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    One week to go and counting....anyone got any rockets to fire or sparklers to sparkle yet ?
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