by Dave Franklin

Created on: February 01, 2007   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

Burning the Bishops - The Lewes Fire Festival

The title of the review may seem like a naughty euphemism for something that I cant discuss in print on a site as proper and clean cut as Helium, but I assure you it is not. The relevance will become clear as you read on, first a quick history test. What have the following events in common? Firstly, the burning of 17 Protestant martyrs in Lewes High Street from 1555 to 1557, under the reign of Mary Tudor. Secondly, the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when conspirators led by Robert Catesby planned to blow up King James I as he opened Parliament, the man at the heart of the action was, as we know, Guy Fawkes, and finally the landing of William of Orange (William III, half of William and Mary) on 5th November 1688 to restore a Protestant monarchy.

The correct answer is that they are all actions in England's turbulent past that are commemorated in the Lewes Bonfire celebrations. According to the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, "Throughout recorded history, it has taken very little persuasion to get English people to make a bonfire," and in Lewes they certainly take that to heart.

Bonfires have long been used as an expression of rejoicing in England, particularly to mark victories or deliverances, either spontaneously or by being ordained by the authorities. They have also formed an integral part of particular calendar customs.
The evolution of the English late-Autumn bonfire festivities is complex, with many strands woven into it. Some have attempted to trace it back to the Celtic festival of Samhain; others suggest that it is based upon the custom of lighting bonfires to protect against disease, or to burn bones for fertilizer.

A document from Henry VIII's reign recommends that people should hold processions and light bonfires as a celebration of their release from the grasp of the Papacy. It is certain that in Elizabethan times the accession of the Queen was commemorated by public bonfires on 17th November each year, and perhaps this made a significant contribution in her successor's reign to the later national celebration of "Guy Fawkes Night" (though it is never properly known by this name in Sussex!)

After a turbulent later period were mob handed anarchists more or less took over the celebrations, Bonfire Societies were formed in the mid-1800s, and the present day look of the festival took shape. These days sectarianism plays scarcely any part in the festivities. What is chiefly celebrated is a pride in freedom and independence,

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