Sussex Bonfires
Traditional rhyme:
Please to remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.
We know no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Origins of the Bonfires
Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes night, is a much-loved date on the events calendar and around Sussex with many towns and villages celebrate it from September through to November.
The fifth of November commemorates the day when Guy or Guido Fawkes and his fellow band of Catholic conspirators were foiled in their dastardly plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament, a day when King James I was in session for the State Opening.
The historical significance of the evening has faded somewhat, but come 05 November, Britain is aglow with orange bonfires and burning effigies of naughty old Guy, fireworks screaming across the crisp autumn night.
Penny for the Guy?
This tradition started when, for a few days before Bonfire Night, children would take their homemade guys out on to the street asking for a penny for the guy from adults. The money would be spent on fireworks or sweets, though today's children would be more likely to demand a pound for the guy. Children also used to blacken their faces, as Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators might have done.
Burning the Effigies
The burning of effigies existed as a tradition long before Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. From the mid-13 century onwards the word 'guy' was used to mean a dummy or effigy. 'Guy' in turn was derived from the Anglo-Norman word 'guyser' describing the stooge in medieval comedies, and could be the origin of the slang term 'geezer'.
However, the effigy burned at bonfire nights up and down the country is of the Catholic Guy Fawkes. In Hastings, Lewes and other towns things are much more imaginative as Fawkes does feature but he's only one of several 'victims'.
Over many years the competition between the Bonfire Boys in the different societies, all sorts of official mayhem (including burning barrel races), surprisingly-costumed torch-lit processions and visiting crowds of up to 80,000 have created a thrilling evening. It's controversial, and more than a little eccentric, but try and change it at your peril...
Each Bonfire Society will nominate its subject for that year, which may be any person of their choosing - politician, celebrity, etc.
Bonfire Societies and dates of Bonfires
Crowborough
Bonfire date: 12 September from 7pm
Society formed: 1897
Society costume: Spanish
Hastings
Bonfire date: 17 October from 6.30pm
Society formed: 1995
Society costume: red blue and gold strips to represent smugglers
Features: torchlit procession, visiting societies, marching bands, bonfire and firework display on the beach
website: www.hbbs.info/index.php
Hailsham
Bonfire date: 17 October
Features: torchlit processions, visiting societies, marching bands, bonfire and firework display
Society reformed: 2005
Society costume: Victorian
website: www.hailshambonfire.org.uk
Icklesham
Bonfire date: 05 November
Takes place at Robin Hood pub
Society costume: Voodoo
Battle
Bonfire date: 07 November
Features: torchlit procession, visiting societies, marching bands, bonfire and firework display
Society formed: 1907
Society costume: Saxon
website: www.battelbonfire.co.uk
Rye
Bonfire date: 14 November
Features: torchlit procession, visiting societies, marching bands, bonfire and firework display
Society formed: 1695
Society costume: red and black
website: www.ryebonfire.co.uk
Robertsbridge
Bonfire date: 21 November
Features: torchlit procession, visiting societies, marching bands, bonfire and firework display (Robertsbridge bonfire is the traditional end of season village bonfire society event)
Society formed: 1990
Society costume: Monk
website: www.robertsbridgebonfiresociety.com
Further Information: