Tomorrow night is Guy Fawkes night. Let me explain – our history is closely tied to that of England, and the Guy Fawkes celebration goes back to 1605 when a Gospodin Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the House of Lords in London. People lit fires to celebrate the fact that his plan was stalled and the King lived on. It developed from there to include bonfires that burnt with effigies on top of figures that weren’t very popular – the poor old pope was represented on the top of a few bonfires back in the day. If there are effigies on bonfires now, it is more likely to represent Guy Fawkes these days.
As a child, our family lived in the country (in various selo’s) where the community would gather on a neighbour’s farm where a huge bonfire roared with Guy Fawkes statues on the top- children snuggled on blankets at a safe distance with their mothers, while the fathers lit the sky rockets and other fireworks. We were allowed to hold sparklers which was pretty exciting. And roast marshmallows on sticks in the embers. MMMMmmm.
As time went on and we moved to the city, there were no bonfires, but there were always crackers. Back then there were not so many ‘health and safety’ rules. Parents made the rules (or turned a blind eye to what the kids were doing). Brave boys tied double happies to dolls to see if they could fly if the bang was big enough, or crackers were put in peoples letter boxes. Looking back, it wasn’t necessarily safe, and there were a few injuries and burns (and worse). But it was fun.
The new ‘sensible rules’ are that fireworks can only be bought 4 days prior to 5th of November and then not at all after that date. Pop up stores (from the back of trucks – here today, gone tomorrow) are selling fireworks everywhere. Teenage boys and budding pyromaniacs are in heaven! They can’t wait until tomorrow night and so are easing themselves into a weekend of playing with matches and lighters already. Oh, the tricks that you can do with some of these things!
Most people go to public fireworks displays now if they want to see fireworks. Pay $20 and let someone else light the crackers and fireworks. Or get together with friends, pooling the fireworks from each family for a big display. And a barbeque and a bottle of wine or two. We are being encouraged to think safely and protect our children from injuries. Goodness, we will have a generation of kids who have never taken a risk with a cracker or a match!
Sometimes this ‘health and safety’ thing goes a bit far.. we used to love going out in the backyard the next morning to try and break open the sky rockets to see if any of the gun powder would still ignite!
Tomorrow night I will sit out on my back verandah and watch.
I love the smell of the gunpowder, it reminds me of the sleepy nights as a child, sitting in the dark watching the colours and the shower of stars as the fireworks exploded in the sky. I might even buy a packet of sparklers to amuse myself.
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