Tonight I learned about the British 5th of November "Bonfire Night," also known as Guy Fawkes Day. There's a long history to the evolution of the holiday, but it originated with a man who attempted to bomb the king, and failed. Bonfires were lit that night to celebrate the fact that the king lived. Now, the 5th of November is basically a night to shoot off fireworks and light bonfires with friends.
We watched big fireworks in the distance and had some fun with sparklers in the back yard. We were going to make smores but didn't have anything to roast them on... next time maybe!
Tomorrow we are going to visit a historical sight in Birmingham called the "Back-to-Backs." It's sure to be an interesting experience, so look for a blog post about it in the midst of the presidential election news!
Wow! Photos of folks from NU celebrating Guy Fawkes Night! (Did you see kids doing the "Penny for the Guy?" bit?) And my sympathies on your friends.
ReplyDeleteI guess I should clarify, we weren't celebrating any of the old history of the day! No anti-catholic days for us, only firework fun! I'll have to look up the bit you mentioned. Still, we did have a great time watching the sky light up!
ReplyDeleteJust looked it up -- no we didn't see any of that! I think that part of the tradition has mostly fallen away. Parents are too scared to even let their kids trick or treat it seems.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I didn't think you'd get into any of the anti-Catholic stuff (which is largely ignored by revellers, hey it's a time to set fires!)I'm not surprised parents don't let their kids out begging for money they're going to toss into a lit effigy they drag around with them! :) :) :)
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