Like Christmas and Halloween, Bonfire Night preparations seem to start earlier and earlier each year. Throughout Britain during October, you will come across piles of wood being stacked in fields, parks or streets, ready for the big night. Children also get into the spirit of it all by making an effigy of Fawkes or “guy’ as it has become known. It is customary to display your guy on the sidewalk outside a store and ask passersby for money – “a penny for the guy, please!” is a popular request. Shops sell fireworks and people start to prepare traditional bonfire food – treacle tart and “parkin” a sort of traditional sweet cake. Roasted chestnuts are also popular – and of course, all the hot cocoa you can drink. Towns, villages and communities work together to make it a night to remember – especially for the children.
If you happen to be in Britain on November 5th, a visit to a bonfire night celebration is an experience not to be missed. You can find bonfires today all over Britain, from the smallest hamlet to the largest city, but the largest and most famous celebrations are held every year in the town of Lewes, East Sussex, about 50 miles south of London. The town actually has different bonfire societies that try to outdo each other with their bonfires, fireworks and fancy dress competitions. Huge effigies of Guy Fawkes are carried through the town by thousands of people wielding burning torches, turning the streets into rivers of flame. In addition to the usual bonfire, the town of Bridgewater in Somerset, West England hosts a huge carnival and nighttime procession through the town – calling itself the largest illuminated carnival in the world.
Not to be outdone, London also hosts a series of spectacular bonfires in its many parks and open spaces every November 5th. One of the best fireworks displays takes place at Alexandra Palace, a huge Victorian structure overlooking the leafy suburbs of North London. Here as well as fireworks which have lit up the skies over London for over a 100 years, you can listen to live music and sample an ice rink and an inside funfair.
Bonfire night is popular not only in Britain – today Bonfire Night is celebrated in New Zealand and parts of Canada. In the late 18th century, Bonfire Night was known as “Pope Day” and celebrated in parts of New England.