On 21st August 1864 the small market town of Lewes in East Sussex suffered an earthquake measuring 3.1 on the Richter scale; that’s nothing compared to what happens in Lewes each year on 5 November.
Here’s what it says on Wikipedia:
The town’s most important annual event is Lewes Bonfire – Guy Fawkes Night celebrations on the 5th of November. In Lewes this event not only marks the date of the uncovering of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, but also commemorates the memory of the seventeen Protestant martyrs… [blah, blah]…
To mark the demise of the 17 martyrs, 17 burning crosses are carried through the town, and a wreath-laying ceremony occurs at the War Memorial in the centre of town. A flaming tar barrel is also thrown into the river Ouse: this is said to symbolise the throwing of the magistrates into the river after they read the Riot Act to the bonfire boys in 1847, but may also be an echo of Samhain traditions. The festivities culminate in five separate bonfire displays, where the effigies are destroyed by firework and flame. Up to 80,000 people have been known to attend this local spectacle, coming from all over the South and sometimes further afield.
Talking of Guy Fawkes Night celebrations, I heard the story earlier of how a man attempted to light a bonfire by standing on top of it, pouring petrol over the bonfire and dropping a lit match. The man receives a posthumous gold in to55er’s Dumb and Dumber Awards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv_O7DNZr7U
Lewes Guy Fawkes Night.
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