"REMEMBER REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER -
GUNPOWDER, TREASON AND PLOT!"
IT'S BONFIRE NIGHT TONIGHT!
Ostensibly a festival in remembrance of the famously foiled Gunpowder Plot of 1605, whereby a dolt named Guy Fawkes and his chums planted great tubby wooden barrels full of high explosives all throughout the cellars beneath the English Houses of Parliament... only to get caught, tried and hung, drawn and quartered...
To this day people all over England, Scotland and Wales set off fireworks and light huge bonfires, often complete with a huge human effigy called the "Guy"...
This actually predates that Guy Fawkes by many centuries, back to a dark time crackling with the flames of ritual magick, where bonfires were bonefires - screaming with the agonies of human burnt sacrifice.
It's all part of the ancient Festival of Lights, part of the same Indo-European pagan heritage that links Bonfire Night to the Hindu "festival of lights" Divali. Very often the two festivals clash and, having several hundred thousand Hindus here in London we have twin fireworks extravaganzas every night for over a fortnight. My friend Mother Hubbard calls it "Doolally" when this happens.
I would imagine most of the big fireworks displays would have been this weekend just been, though I've not glimpsed any. There were some manic garden fireworks last night tho. When it comes to cheap fireworks I much prefer the type that go off with a jack-in-the-box shriek-&-bang rather than just a pathetic half-second fall of lights, like a cigarette being tapped out of a car window.
Surprisingly my hamsters weren't panicked at all by all this bang-crashing (being as they take any opportunity whatsoever to rush about as if their lives are at an end). Perhaps they are growing up. Or maybe their secret goblin who lives in the granary box, clambered out and caused mischief in our back gardens last night...
Well it's barely six p.m. at time of tapping yet pitch dark. It's dark not too long after four thirty these days. Deepest winter is a three thirty nightfall, which is terribly early. Meaning you'd get up in darkness, leave for work in the dark. The sun skirts exhaustedly just above the horizon, either suffusing the clouds with watery light or else dazzling straight in the eyes from the end of your road. Then evening, as I said falls not too long after three. Nightfall in this country always takes much longer than in more tropical climes. Not for us the ten minute sunset then ~ WHAM! ~ starlight... no, we get a great display of it, the yellowy, tired, extinguishing sun, settling down on its ruddy pillow of horizon doing everything to say "look folks, I did get up (just). I was here. I promise to come back tomorrow." No wonder those folks of old so treasured evergreens as evidence that summer would return - if many months down the road - at long (eventual) last.
Now I have to go, Valium Marilyn just came stumbling into this internet caffe and I'm getting dirty looks from a multinational crowd of poker players, porn viewers, emailers and people writing job resumes... gotta go...
have a merry one everyone!
And if it's not merry, may it be tolerable.
If you are doing bonfire night, follow the advice of Blue Peter and keep those pets indoors!
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STOP PRESS: It's now 9:01pm; our skies are full of coloured lights and bang-crashes...
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Another Gunpowder Plot link.
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Anton
How come all schoolkids' blogs from Singapore-Malaysia are like this?
No comments under each post, but a "flashbox" thing for messages from all their usually Chinese pop music loving friends? Go to http://fresh-blogg.blogspot.com and have a look ...
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Boum-boum/Taga-boum
http://tagada-boum.blogspot.com
intellectual French poetry...
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Absolutely transcendently psychedelically colourful Italian seafront houses... amazing!
From Isabella http://sheeppuppet.blogspot.com
clickonthat too but do click on the top sentence... I've never seen a street so paintedly bright..!!..
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Striking images:
http://hummann.blogspot.com
a blog in Thai!
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Amazing bottle top collection:
http://eleventwentyseven.blogspot.com
(how do they get 'em off without bending 'em? I certainly can't do that...)
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Scrap from Scratch
http://scrapfromscratch.blogspot.com
A classic American "scrappin'" blog... (we don't really have the same thing over here) ...
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Beautiful French cats
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Arizona and Wales: Dorien's Photo Blog
Great stuff at:
http://dorrien.blogspot.com
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This is what Eileen sent me:
Toronto photographer living under bridge (news article)
Her photos on flickr http://flickr.com/photos/anacrisan
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Tune of the Day:
Mozart's Requiem
Specially for Ivy ~ because it's Mozart's top tune
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Click for more e-"season's-greetings"-cards
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Another fantastic autumn-in-the-water picture; this one from Debsbox
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Writing romance. Instructions from the masters/mistresses: Harlequin/Mills-&-Boon!
12 hours ago
30 comments:
Have you ever been to the burning of the clocks in Brighton? Saw some pics on Flickr and it looks like good times.
Also, thought you might be interested in this girl's photography. I stumbled across her because the Toronto Star did an article on her work, I think it's quite amazing...
Here is the article http://www.thestar.com/News/article/273541
and here is the URL for her Flickr account flickr.com/photos/anacrisan/
-Eileen
Thanks for that I posted those links up just now
Now what a difference those UK winter months would be if houses looked like those Italian ones *!*
.... I took a peep at Anton's blog and I think you have confused the poor kid, he's posted you a question.
Interesting story on the photographer under the bridge.
It's 6:15am and raining and the magpies are singing under cover again *!*
O dear me I am going to have to explain... ALL I was trying to say was nearly EVERYONE under age 20 from Singapore-Malaysia has a blog in the same format as Anton... no comments boxes but a flashbox for messages... that was all!
Anton if you are reading this do not become a heroin "dada" addict like me do not touch the stuff it is evil! Steer well away!
"It's 6:15am and raining and the magpies are singing under cover again *!*"
do magpies actually sing?!?
You have the most wonderful conspiratorial holidays there in Merry Olde England Gledwood. I never heard of Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot or how the two somehow became blended together. I wonder how Guy Fawkes would feel about becoming such a notorious celebrity that ended up tied to an old Druid ritual? Amazing history. There is just nothing like it in the States. Oh how much fun it would be to knock back a few pints while watching the effigy of Guy Fawkes go up in flames and who knows if your lucky maybe you will receive the blessings of Ganesh and be visited by Lakshmi in the night. How delightful. HaHa.
I really enjoyed your description of the sun at this time of year in this post Gleds. I think we have daylight for a little longer perhaps. The sunsets can be breathtaking at this time of year but as winter gets closer the sunlight seems to be a weak memory of summer days.
I hope you enjoyed the fireworks ...
Speaking of interesting but much more recent history. Be sure to visit the website for the 'Fabulous Ruins of Detroit'. Amazing and tragic photos of the decline of a modern city.
http://detroityes.com/home.htm
Molson: Hang on I was thinking of this and why did they do a bonfire on Friends... o! Duh! It was a Valentines' day bonfire... ho-hum what a terrlbe thing.... Yes we have the ancient olde Festival of Light but to be quite honest I would not be at all surprised if it actually comes from exactly the same festival as Halloween... that would definitely make sense... see what I mean?
Kahshe: too true... I think you probably would have maybe 1/2 an hour longer as most of inhabited Canada is quite far south of us... we are on a line with New England/Nova Scotia... which is EXCEEDINGLY inconveniently cold!
Molson: What's that? The decline of Detroit? I've never heard of THAT... let me have a poke thru it...
The fireworks have been pretty good thanks, tho I didn't go to a formal display... they're going off all about me on evey road in this area...
I was asking myself what are they going to look like from my floor-to-ceiling windows in Ontario Tower... you know bc it's quite high up will I be able to look DOWN on them?!? That would be teletubbily cool...
Thanks for your visit!
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I read a lot about Guy Fawkes back in high school, in English classes... it's like English folklore for us. Never actually been to the UK for it, but it must be fun with fireworks and stuff.
Did you like the V for Vendetta movie ? ;)
The largest Bonfire Night locally didn't go too well....one of the fairground rides collapsed. Glad I was safely tucked indoors watching out the window!
Rx
Glad the hammys werent too bothered by the noise, I think my dog will quite literally be very relieved to get out into the garden today..she was terrified..poor thing
Liked the idea of wathcing the fireworks from the tower building..Auds x
We can only have organised firework displays here...ones that are put on by the city because of the fire risk...we have enough bush fires without idiots letting of fireworks, too. Although some can always buy them illegally, and they do.
I love the Indian Festival of Lights, have been to a few of those, very colourful.
Have a good time and take care.
BTW take a look at yesterday's post on my blog.
Hope you enjoyed all the fireworks mate. Max, Fee's husky, wasn't affected by it at all!
Gata Verde: you're welcome!
Zhu: wow Guy Fawkes gets everywhere...
Ruth: glad you WEREN'T there... I think I might have heard something about that on the news
Audrey: yes it would be cool to watch the fireworks from right up high... I wonder how far up the side of the tower the cheap ones go? Probably not all the way up...
Puss-in-Boots: bushfire risk... I'd never even thought of that... how horrible
ViviVoom: huskies are dead cute with their blue eyes...
Hi Gleds
Just saying hi! How are the hammies? Have they survived the fireworks? Are you alright matey? I am still ok.
cheerio
glad x
Glad you are better... what a turnup 4the books!
Apparently it was one of the Heywood family (whom my town was named for)who snatched the torch from the hand of Guy Fawkes!
I heard about this tradition when I was in London.
Actually, Gled, Nova Scotia is about 7 degrees of latitude further south than Jolly Olde...
(you can work it all out here
London is actually quite far north by North American standards, more in line with places like Moosonee.
(Sorry, it's the nerd in me...) ;-)
I hear you. I go to work in the dark and I come home in the dark. I hate fall and winter. Ggirl
I don't do Bonfire night period.
Hi, Gleds. I never understand about Joan Collins. I mean, she had wrinkles in her 40s but now she says she's had no plastic surgery - hmmm - . Used to like those ads, though. So glad the hamsters weren't upset by it all - I was worrying about them! "Dolally" seems a good name to sum it up!
Akelamalu: really did he have the flaming torch in his hand when he got caught? Blimey!
Ropi: and a very spectacular tradition it is too
Whitenoise: o! I will have a look at that lattitude thang...
GGirl: I know it's rather miserable... I remember going to school like that just wishing I could hibernate...
Ingsoc: the fireworks aren't that good for home use except (well as I said) the noisy ones...
Welshcakes: old Joan Collins has to be 75 by my calculation and that's no exaggeration.... I once saw a picture of her without makeup in her 40s she had just as many lines and wrinkles as anyone else... I reckon she HAS had some surgery but has kept it subtle. Also is blest with luminous skin and a bone structure that has made her face improve with age in many ways... quite remarkable!
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