Who needs Halloween, when you have Bon Fire Night!

Well, needless to say Halloween came and went without me so much as noticing. Other than an attempt at a fancy dress party in London (which was cancelled), and a few emails wishing me a Happy Halloween from mates back in the States. Well there, was a brief moment on the Saturday before Halloween where I was like slightly bummed and a bit nostalgic, wow, if I was at home right now I would be on the faboulous Halloween Loop, which to me is one of the premier events Wilmington, Delaware has to offer. I found that Halloween isn't very big here, trick or treating is a new idea that has only just begun and the Christian community frowns on the idea of the celebration, viewing it as Demonic. I actually was warned not to really mention Halloween at all, and the few people I did speak to about it raised their eyebrows when I said I grew up attending Halloween Parties held every year at my Church, but I digress.

Here in the lovely United Kingdom, we have something much better. We have the 5th of November aka Bonfire Night. This is a night celebrated all over the UK, which includes more fireworks than the 4th of July and huge bonfires everywhere from public parks to peoples home gardens. Why may you ask is there a bonfire night? Well way back in the day, a man by the name of Guy Fawkes, tried to blow up the British Parliament and failed. Since then every year on the 5th of November the UK celebrates his failure, by burning him in effigy in Bonfires, a bit barbaric, I know but hey, no judging, just joining in on the fun. For more of the history of Bonfire Night check out this link.

Since Bonfire night fell on a Sunday this year, there was twice the fun. Many places in the Birmingham area had bonfire celebrations on Saturday as well as Sunday. So, on Saturday (November 4th) night I had the opportunity to attend the Bonfire Fayre in West Brom. Where there was a HUGE bonfire, lots of rides, a laser show, fun music, and of course loads and loads of fireworks. And when I say loads of fireworks I mean that for the past two days, as soon as it got dark outside you heard the continuous popping of fireworks.

All I can say, after a rough week (I will write more about that later), it was a great way to finish it off. I enjoyed my first English Bonfire night a lot.

Cheers!