Happy Guy Fawkes Day!
Guy Fawkes Night (also known as Bonfire Night) is an annual celebration on the evening of the 5th of November. It celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November 1605 in which a number of Roman Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
It is primarily marked in the United Kingdom, but also in former British colonies including New Zealand, parts of Canada, and parts of the British Caribbean.[citation needed] Bonfire Night was also common in Australia until the 1980s[citation needed], but it was held on the Queen's Birthday long weekend in June.
Festivities are centred around the use of fireworks and the lighting of bonfires.
Local customs:
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, celebrations take place in towns and villages across the country in the form of both private and civic events. They involve fireworks displays and the building of bonfires on which "guys" are burnt. These "guys" are traditionally effigies of Guy Fawkes, the most famous of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, or (very much less commonly in the present day) the Pope.[1] Before the fifth, children traditionally use the "guys" request a "penny for the guy" in order to raise funds with which to buy fireworks.
In the United Kingdom, there are several foods that are traditionally consumed on Guy Fawkes Night: black treacle goods such as bonfire toffee and parkin, toffee apples, and baked potatoes, which are wrapped in foil and cooked in the bonfire or its embers.
In Lewes, it is a major festival that is also tied up with the 17 Protestant martyrs that were burnt at the stake during the Catholic reign of Mary Tudor.[citation needed] There are torchlight processions in costumes necessitating the closure of the town centre. The usual bonfires are topped off by burning effigies of Guy Fawkes and, often controversially[specify], other unpopular figures including the pope. Additionally a burning barrel of tar is thrown in the river. The local police repeatedly call[when? - see talk page] for restraint and warn of overcrowding.
In Ottery St Mary, in Devon, burning barrels of tar are carried through the streets:
"Ottery St. Mary is internationally renowned for its tar barrels, an old custom said to have originated in the 17th century, and which is held on November 5th each year. Each of Ottery's central public houses sponsors a single barrel. In the weeks prior to the day of the event, November 5th, the barrels are soaked with tar. The barrels are lit outside each of the pubs in turn and once the flames begin to pour out, they are hoisted up onto local people's backs and shoulders. The streets and alleys around the pubs are packed with people, all eager to feel the lick of the barrels flame. Seventeen Barrels all in all are lit over the course of the evening. In the afternoon and early evening there are women's and boy's barrels, but as the evening progresses the barrels get larger and by midnight they weigh at least 30 kilos. A great sense of camaraderie exists between the 'Barrel Rollers', despite the fact that they tussle constantly for supremacy of the barrel. In most cases, generations of the same family carry the barrels and take great pride in doing so. ... Opinion differs as to the origin of this festival of fire, but the most widely accepted version is that it began as a pagan ritual that cleanses the streets of evil spirits. Guy Fawkes Night is less commonly celebrated in Northern Ireland, where autumn fireworks and bonfires are more commonly associated with Hallowe'en.
Southern hemisphere
Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Night (and the weekend closest to it) is the main night for both amateur and official fireworks displays in the UK and New Zealand.
In Australia, Guy Fawkes Night is mostly known simply as Bonfire Night and bears little connection to its original purpose.[citation needed] Celebration of Bonfire Night has died down due to the banning of fireworks in most states and territories to prevent their misuse.
The day was moved to a more suitable time of year due to the threat of bush fires in the dry Australian summer.
In New Zealand, the retail sale of personal use fireworks is permitted to those 18 and older, and may now only be sold on the 4 days leading to Guy Fawkes Night. Firecrackers have been banned since 1993, and rockets or any firework where the firework itself flies have been banned since 1994. Despite these sales restrictions, there is actually no restriction on when one may light fireworks, only a restriction on when they may be sold. Despite the insistence of most anti-fireworks campaigners, the continuing "mad rush" of fireworks sales show that New Zealanders still appreciate fireworks and/or Guy Fawkes Night.
Caribbean
In the Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, this is a very exciting night in the town of Barrouallie, on the main island of St. Vincent's leeward side. The town's field comes ablaze as people come to see all of the traditional pyrotechnics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawke%27s_Day