Any celebrations where you live? Here in Virginia Beach the Adam Thoroughgood House does one, in the colonial sense. No fireworks, English food and drink (apple cider and ginger snaps), and you get to talk to "Guy Fawkes", before he is led to be burned. My CofE upbringing had me angry listening to the sympathy he receives from the locals because of his religious persecution, sad to get so mad but I was muttering under my breath! Even the fire is very small but you learn to take what you can get over here.

Wish we had something like that in Chicago even if it is small.

What do you do? I'll do one at my house and take pics.

Go and find every old wooden pallet, fence post and fallen tree you can. Stack it all up until you think it might be a tad too dangerous then add some more.

Also you need to get some old pants a shirt and a mask and put it all together, stuff with newspaper and send your kids down to the nearest store and make them sit out front saying "penny for the guy" for about 3 weeks (bit late for 3 weeks but they could get almost 2 weeks in).

Come burning time put the Guy you have crafted on top of bonfire you have built and light it.

Oh and lots and lots of fireworks. On no circumstances throw the dud fireworks into the bonfire.

you forgot hot chocolate and bonfire toffee

Burn a catholic.

Post pics of the bonfire, I bet it will be a good one!

Oh yeah we used to have hot chocolate but we had roasted chestnuts instead of toffee.

This all sounds fun! Does it have to be a practicing Catholic? They're getting harder to find...

How do you put a chestnut on a stick?

With great difficulty.

Go pre-colonial... pretend its the Salem witch trials. heckle the crowd and cry out "Burn the witch" and see what reaction you get.


...and marshmallows!!
Throw in some graham crackers and pieces of a choc bar too Can't have a whopping big bonfire w/o S'mores!!

Parkin - can't have a bonfire without parkin.

And I don't understand why people are supposed to feel sorry for Guy Fawkes. Didn't the whole thing start because of treason when he tried to blow up the houses of parliament. I thought it was more a political thing and not religious.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

It was both. More religious though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, or the Powder Treason, as it was known at the time,[1] was a failed assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics against King James I of England and VI of Scotland. The plot intended to kill the king, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in a single attack by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening on 5 November 1605. The conspirators had also planned to abduct the royal children, not present in Parliament, and incite a popular revolt in the Midlands.

They never really existed, biggest rule benders of the lot.

It's the americans who listen to the "Guy" they have here who feel sorry for him. I should go this year and tell them we were way ahead of them one the "Global War on Terrorism".

Thanks - I don't remember being given all the details in history at school. I know more about the origins of Halloween and took great delight in preparing a reading comprehension on it for Italian students as I wanted to prove to them that it was not just a big American invention for a party and free candy and also that the Catholic church had a lot to answer for and the only reason why November 1st is a national holiday here is because it was a Pope's attempt to cancel All Hallows Eve and be done with pagan rituals.

It never worked obviously.