Lewes, England: The Bonfire Capital of the World

If you’re a fan of V for Vendetta, you remember what happens on Guy Fawkes Night. Alan Moore’s graphic novel refers to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when a group of English Catholics attempted to assassinate King James I and replace him with a Catholic monarch. Fawkes was caught, tortured and executed, with the Protestant people of England commemorating their King’s victory.

Initially, the celebration was called Gunpowder Treason Day, celebrating the plan’s failure and Fawkes’ death, complete with a burning of his and the Pope’s effigy. These celebrations were more like riots than festivals, before Parliament eventually made it a national holiday, though the truth is most of the modern-day celebrations don’t have much to do with the original Gunpowder Plot.

© Paul Ransome | Dreamstime

Interest waned during the 17^th-century before the Bonfire Boys of the 1820s reinvigorated the holiday with fireworks and bonfires. Bonfire Night (as it more commonly goes by) became a ritual in fighting and vandalism before authorities clamped down on the rowdiness. This eventually gave way to the founding of several bonfire societies, which organize peaceful festivities every year.

While some take part in the religious sentiment, the holiday lost much of its original significance and the effigies are burned in protest of anyone deemed an “enemy of the bonfire.” While the holiday has been shrinking in popularity, Lewes Bonfire is considered to be the biggest in the country, with the seven societies organizing an explosive night of fireworks, burning effigies and, of course, bonfires.

© Dominic Alves | Flickr