Brockham Bonfire

Brockham Bonfire

"Remember, remember the Fifth of November." Early November is bonfire season in England, commemorating the discovery and thwarting of Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Sussex and Surrey, south of London, host the biggest celebrations, which also commemorate the 36 Sussex Martyrs who were put to death for their adherence to the Protestant faith during the reign of Bloody Mary Tudor. The town of Lewes, Sussex, holds the biggest bonfire celebration, so big that town officials close the train station and the roads and strongly discourage outsiders from coming to town.

At a co-worker's suggestion, I attended the bonfire in Brockham, Surrey, in 2018. There was a mile-long torchlight parade down country lanes leading to the bonfire in the center of the village green. An effigy of Guy Fawkes was hoisted to the top of a three-story-high pile of kindling in the middle of the village green, and torchlight bearers thrust their torches into the pile to start the bonfire. Live music, beer and mulled wine, a hog roast, and fireworks, all around a massive bonfire, on a clear, crisp night on an English village green.