Bonfire Night
Every year Britain burns a man who tried to blow up Parliament, and in Lewes the fire extends to flaming barrels in the river and a march of thousands.
Published
Quick Facts
- Date
- 5 November, every year
- What it marks
- The failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605
- Plot leader
- Robert Catesby; Guy Fawkes was caught guarding the gunpowder
- Gunpowder found
- 36 barrels in a cellar beneath the House of Lords
- Made official
- An Act of Parliament ordered annual thanksgiving, and it stayed in law until 1859
- Famous hotspots
- Lewes in East Sussex and Ottery St Mary in Devon
- Traditional treats
- Parkin, treacle toffee, toffee apples and baked potatoes
- Firework curfew
- Extended to midnight on 5 November under the 2004 regulations
The bonfire that was lit before the plotters were even tried
Bonfires were already burning across London on the night of 5 November 1605. They were lit in relief, because the king had survived. A group of Catholic conspirators led by Robert Catesby had planned to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament, killing James I. Guy Fawkes, an experienced soldier born in York, was found in the cellar with 36 barrels of gunpowder. He was using the name John Johnson. Parliament moved fast. Within months it passed an Act for a public thanksgiving every 5 November, and churches had to hold special services. That law was not repealed until 1859. By then the bonfires had long since outgrown the sermons.
From thanksgiving to a night of fire and mischief
For a long time the celebration was fiercely anti-Catholic, and the effigies burned were often of the Pope as well as Fawkes. Over the centuries the politics faded and the fun stayed. Children made a stuffed figure, the guy, and wheeled it around with the cry of "Penny for the guy". The word itself escaped into everyday English, so a badly dressed person became a "guy". The old rhyme "Remember, remember, the fifth of November" kept the date in every schoolchild's head. The tradition of the guy at the door has faded in many places, but the rhyme has not.
How Britain does it now
Most people go to an organised display run by a town council, school, rugby club or fire brigade charity, often on the nearest Saturday. A big bonfire, a firework show and a sausage in a bun are the standard menu. The food is half the point. Parkin, a sticky oat-and-treacle cake from the north of England, is a fixture. So are treacle toffee, toffee apples and jacket potatoes pulled out of the embers. Back gardens still play their part, though firework rules are stricter than they once were. Under the 2004 regulations the usual 11pm curfew is pushed back to midnight on 5 November itself. In London, Yeomen of the Guard still ritually search the cellars of Parliament before each State Opening, a nod to 1605.
Why Lewes is the bonfire capital
Lewes in East Sussex takes the night more seriously than anywhere else. Several bonfire societies, each with its own colours and costumes, march through the streets with flaming torches. Outfits range from Vikings to smugglers, and rivalries between societies are part of the fun. The town has an extra reason for its fire. Seventeen Protestants were burned at the stake in Lewes in the 1550s under Mary I, and the processions remember them with burning crosses. Each society ends the night at its own bonfire site with its own fireworks. Effigies are burned, and these include Guy Fawkes alongside modern figures that have caused offence to the public that year. Some of the display ends with flaming tar barrels being thrown into the River Ouse. The town is so crowded that locals have often advised outsiders to stay away, and trains and roads are restricted.
Running with fire in Devon
In Ottery St Mary in Devon, the night is about barrels. Locals carry blazing tar barrels on their shoulders through the packed streets, and the crowd scatters and re-forms around them. Boys carry smaller barrels early in the evening, and the men take over later. The tradition is fiercely local, handed down through families and pubs. Each barrel is carried by someone with a strong claim to the town. It is the opposite of a tidy display, which is exactly why people travel to see it. Along with Lewes, it shows that Bonfire Night is not one celebration but dozens, and each town thinks its own version is the right one.
Notable people
- Guy Fawkes
- Robert Catesby
- James I
- Mary I
Keep exploring
Pancake Day
Published
Every Shrove Tuesday, women in aprons sprint through an English town flipping pancakes, racing a rival town in Kansas – and the winner gets a kiss from the verger.
The Highland Games
Published
A Scottish tradition where grown adults hurl a tree trunk end over end, pipers battle for glory, and the monarch might be watching from the stand.
Tartan and the Kilt
Published
The oldest known tartan in Britain was stuffed into a pot of Roman coins near Falkirk, and the kilt you picture is younger than the Union Jack.