BONFIRE NIGHT

I was born and brought up in Lewes, Sussex, England.  For anyone familiar with this neck of the woods, Lewes is most famous for its bonfire night celebrations.  Protestant martyrs were burnt at the stake above the town during catholic persecutions from 1555-1157 and many of the inhabitants of Lewes have never forgotten this outrage, nor the attempt by Guy Fawkes and his fellow traitors to blow up Parliament on 5th November 1606.  To this day effegies of the Pope, Guy Fawkes - and anyone else considered to have behaved badly during the previous year - are burned in the town and on bonfires lit on the outskirts on the 5th November. 

Although the days of hurling flaming tar barrels into the River Ouse are over, thanks to health and safety regulations, Lewes is still an excitingly scary place to be on November 5th. Proud members of the many Bonfire Societies parade through the streets in costumes and masks (dating back centuries to when young men used  disguise to avoid being arrested for letting off gunpowder in the streets on the big day).  They carry flaming tar torches that pass inches from the faces of onlookers lining the pavements, shout and toss loud bangers into the air on a regular basis, leaving the ears ringing from the noise.  My grandfather was a passionate member of one of the Bonfire Societies and used to take us as very small children to the parades - after his death my father would accompany us to the town centre each year.

I think of the above celebrations as my heritage, as a very important part of my childhood and as there is a large part of me that has never grown up, each year on 5th November I yearn to make the best guy (an effegy of Guy Fawkes), and the biggest bonfire to toss him onto and to set of the noisiest fireworks possible.   Ed and I tried really hard to make it happen last year, but we were so busy trying to make the Roundhouse sufficiently habitable to move into that we couldn't get it together.  But this year was different........

Our caretaker's children Jose-Miguel and Mariana proudly display the guy we made.

Lydia, our caretaker's wife watches the driving rain that threatens our celebrations.

Friends' children arrive hoping for a fun night.

We have a chorizo feast waiting for the bonfire to dry out so that we can light it.

The guy is tossed onto the bonfire.

The flames leap into the sky and as with the fireworks can be seen from all the villages around us.

Our friends enjoy the spectacle.

Ed hands sparklers to the dubious children.

A huge bonfire and loud fireworks - June's happy!

The children overcome their fear and enjoy the sparklers.