Bonfire Night is the only event on the annual calendar of holidays that is purely English – all other festivities are shared with other countries. Yes, it may be hard to believe but Christmas is actually popular abroad too.
The arsonist celebration of bonfires and fireworks is so indubitably and idiosyncratically English, it may even be more English than the Queen herself, as it celebrates the thwarting of an event that would have killed her distant ancestor James I and installed a Catholic monarch instead.
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was an attempt by a band of Catholics to blow up the House of Lords. They felt that the harsh Protestant rule that governed the country was all a bit unfair for their Catholic ilk, so what better way to change it than by bringing down the entire government with 36 barrels of gunpowder in the basement.
Of the 12 conspirators, Guy Fawkes drew the short straw and sat in the gloom to keep guard. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your outlook, some watchmen found him down there and immediately arrested him, putting the kibosh on the bombing.
After Fawkes was executed, effigies of him were burned around the country, symbolising just how much the rest of the country didn’t agree with that sort of thing. The fact that the English are still burning his image annually over 400 years since he passed away either shows how passionate England is about its monarchical non-Vatican democracy or how simply much they love burning stuff. It’s probably the latter.
If you’re considering experiencing this event of purest Albion at its best, then here are some notable events that will definitely help you remember, remember the fifth of November…
Lewes
The tiny town of Lewes in East Sussex swells to around five times its normal population on Bonfire Night – thousands of people flock here to see the local bonfire societies carry flaming torches around the streets and burn effigies of notable “Enemies of Bonfire” such as corrupt politicians and famous terrorists.
These formal destructive celebrations have been held in Lewes for over 150 years, while before the 1850s the annual event was originally little more than unstructured rioting – it was the sort of thing that might strike fear into any witch left over from Hallowe’en.
London
Bonfire Night in London requires a viewpoint that will give you a wide horizon full of whizzbangs and colourfizzes stretching as far as the eye can see over one of the world’s most famous cities.
The fittingly-named Parliament Hill in Hampstead has a superlative view, while for something a bit more central, try Primrose Hill near Regents Park.
Black Heath in southeast London has both a large display set to music and a panoramic view, giving visitors everything fire-related they might possibly desire.
Cardiff
The inclusive nature of the English means their brothers-in-land the Welsh also enjoy getting in on the Bonfire Night action.
The Sparks in the Park display held in Cardiff is one of the largest in the UK and consists of bonfires par excellence as well as a lavish half-an-hour fireworks barrage. There’s also a fairground for visitors whose necks get tired of gazing in wonder at the sky.
Bridgwater
The West Country is home to a massive carnival procession of extravagantly-illuminated floats known as the Somerset County Guy Fawkes Carnival Association Circuit.
It begins in Bridgwater where bonfire festivities 400 years ago were always fervent due to locals wanting to show their absolute disdain for the Catholic terrorists – the brains of the Gunpowder Plot came from the area so they didn’t want the rest of the country to think they were all like that.
The circuit includes Weston-Super-Mare, Shepton Mallet and Glastonbury, and lasts around two weeks as it moves from place to place.
Anywhere there’s a technical hitch
Occasionally, due to technical issues, all those fireworks meant to be shown carefully over 20 or 30 minutes are accidentally fired off at an accelerated rate, condensing the display into a frenetic “burn out, not fade away” extravaganza over less than a minute.
Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee of where this might happen and you can’t be everywhere at once, but luckily we have the Internet to show us clips of ones we may miss. Here’s a delightfully speedy bangfest from 2011 in Oban:
(Featured image by montpelier)
