Bonfire night
Last night was bonfire night. In England, November 5th is celebrated in rhyme:
"Remember, remember the fifth of November…"
Why? Well, a few centuries ago, Guy Fawkes (a catholic) tried to blow up the houses of parliment.
The official line is that every year we celebrate his failure, but I think a lot of people actually celebrate his audicity. They still burn an effigy of him on a bonfire, though.
In the town of Lewes, which is very near to Brighton, they go one better. They burn an effigy of the pope.
In fact, in Lewes, they go completey bonfire mad and build huge pyres on every hilltop. They then have torchlight processions to the pyres where they chant "Burn him, burn him".
I was there last night with Jessica and Karin. We missed most of the processions but we saw one of the bonfires and we were treated to a great fireworks display.
Here are some pictures.
Tuesday, November 6th, 2001 6:18pm
Illustrations
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