It is a rare occasion indeed that I can find reasons to set things on fire. In fact, upon reflection, I can only think of three things I’ve ever had reasons to set on fire:
1. Wood: because I’m cold
2. Candles: because it’s someone’s birthday, Halloween, or fancy dinner time
3. Bits of colorful scrap plastic: because it burns neat-o
Other than that, nada. But man, these Brits, they know what they want and they will find legitimate reason to do it. What do they want? FIRE! Why do they want it? BECAUSE SOME GUY (no pun intended) TRIED TO BLOW UP PARLIAMENT! This, my friends, is how Guy Fawkes Day was born.
Gay Fawkes Day, or more simply known as Fireworks Day, happens every 5th of November and commemorates the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. This plot was a failed assassination attempt on King James I. Guy Fawkes, funnily enough, was not responsible for leading the plot–he was just the guy caught red-handed hiding amongst 36 barrels of gunpowder in the House of Lords late the night of November 4. But it is he who the people remember, and he who they incinerate an effigy of in a bonfire of epic proportions. He’s one lucky guy, no? (Okay maybe pun intended that time).
Sorry that it’s a bit blurry. For an idea of how big this bonfire was, you can just barely make out the firefighter standing directly to the right of the bonfire. Unfortunately you can’t make out Guy Fawkes himself, but he is (was) perched atop the wood pile, looking quite like a poorly made scarecrow with a marker-drawn smiley face. It was all very realistic and just as it was that fateful day of 1605.
As the fire died down, the night gave way to an exceptional fireworks show. Not much to say on that though… we all know what fireworks look like, and we all know how impossible it is to take pictures of them without a high-quality camera. This was the best I got:
It looks nervous… like a firework with many jelly-like legs.
Fireworks Day was kind of like the Fourth of July but instead of celebrating independence, we were celebrating attempted terrorism. Bravo, England.
It was also like the Fourth in that people celebrated by setting off their own fun-sized fireworks on the days preceding and following the actual holiday, which was nice because I got to view numerous simpler fireworks shows from the comfort of my dorm.
So there you have it, Guy Fawkes Day. In other news, I officially have less than one month (now that it’s after midnight here) to spend in/at this wonderful country/city/university, which is quite sad. And as excited as I am about going home for Christmas, I am starting to feel particularly blue over the prospect of leaving the wonderful friends I have made during my time here; I’ve only known them (at most) for two months but it feels like two decades. But it’s too soon to get sappy–a month is a pretty decent amount of time! So I better stop talking to you all and GET OUT THERE! Well, actually, I’m going to stop talking to you all and go to sleep… but when I wake up I’m going to GET OUT THERE! Fo sho.
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I just laughed out loud in class reading this.