To think that Bonfire night is slowly dying out

[IndiGlowie]

It seems to me that Bonfire Night will gradually die away as a lot of younger people don't really like or approve of fireworks. I understand people getting annoyed and upset when pets are traumatised usually by shits letting them off long before 5th November. I haven't seen a penny for a guy on top of a bonfire for years .

I think Halloween has grown more in popularity and has gone from nothing to something huge possibly down to the internet .

Easter used to be bigger than what it is now when there used to be Easter Bonnet parades and a lot more people went to Church.

Christmas traditions Also fading away no Carol singers , decorations such as Holly and mistletoe and cards are dying out .

I predict New Years Eve Celebrations will increase in popularity as the years go by .

Our town used to have a big firework display with fairground rides and bands on stage, all organised by the local rotary but sadly after Covid and lock downs the firework company they used packed up and they say it's all too expensive now.
There was never an actual bonfire though and it seems to be all about fireworks now rather than Guy Falkes. I haven't seen a Guy or heard "penny for the Guy" since I was a kid.

I’ve not noticed this yet where I live, all big displays on and as popular as ever.

Christmas is always a massive deal, I feel like more and more ‘traditions’ keep appearing eg elf on the shelf, 1st December North Pole breakfast is something I kept seeing last year!, Christmas Eve boxes and pyjamas... although this is all stuff I’ve seen on social media rather than real life.

@RightOnTheEdge

I dont think it's just Guy Falkes, it's all small community festivals. They all need liscenses and crowd control now and it's just too difficult to organise. Shame.

Fireworks are a big deal where I live with local pubs hosting displays and there will be lots of houses letting them off. Halloween is starting to take off. Christmas is a big deal with lots of. Christmas Fayres. No one gives a hoot about NYE where I live.

Still huge round these parts.
I loved fireworks as a child ( still do, really). It was magical being out in the dark, all the different smells and sounds.

Love the idea that Halloween has come from nothing when Samhain has origins back to Celtic pagan

Still popular here. We’re off to a big bonfire display next week which is free.
Easter is also still popular but has definitely evolved from people going to church to people using it as a family time and celebrating spring.

I agree Halloween is tacky but isn’t that the point?

Children dress up, eat sweets and half a laugh. It doesn’t need to be deep and meaningful.

I’m not a huge fan of fireworks night - it’s cold, often wet, muddy, and you come home smelling of smoke so have to wash everything you’ve been wearing. My dog isn’t bothered by them, but I do feel awful for the animals that are.

To be honest I think Guy Fawkes had a point when he wanted to blow up parliament - at this point I’d support him fully 😂 Think it’s a bit unfair to stick him on top of a bonfire for it!

I hope so!

Our local seaside town has free fireworks on the seafront every weekend in October and November and there's always a big turnout

Really interesting OP, you could well be right. Christmas seems to be shorter these days, with Boxing Day often a shopping day, which would never have happened when we were growing up

I'd say it's more like spreading out than dying out. We used to have fireworks on 5th November (or the nearest Friday/Saturday) and that was it. Now they can be any evening from the start of Diwali until New Year. My poor dog is a nervous wreck :(

Carols still hugely popular here.

I play in a band and every year we play carols in the bandstand on the Friday evening before Christmas. It usually attracts quite a large crowd.

Then we do a similar thing at a local stately home the weekend before Christmas and that gets a huge crowd.

I love fireworks night and really miss it living abroad! Not fussed about Hallowe'en. I don't like the spooky stuff.

Just looked at the website- looks totally bonkers! What’s it all about? Wouldn’t even know where to park and how to get anywhere near it!

Halloween seems to just be an Instagram contest nowadays.

I don’t think Bonfire night and fireworks will die out. As a previous poster has mentioned, we don’t have Bonfire night on the 5th in Ireland (obviously) but we have bonfires and fireworks on the 31st instead, so Halloween night is an even bigger deal. I think for Samhain people used to lead their cows through the middle of two bonfires to purify them. (Vaguely remember learning about it in school, unless I’m getting it mixed up with Imbolc/ February / sort of Easter.) People have always loved a good bonfire!

I was reading this thread thinking precisely the same. Samhain has been around long before the Christians co-opted it as All Hallows' Eve, then decided Halloween was the devil's work because its focus was witches, spirits and the occult.

I also love the colourful fireworks and crackling bonfires of Guy Fawkes' night, although it does stick in the craw that it's a celebration of (as ever) anarchy being crushed by the establishment. If they wrapped it all together into one proper public holiday, I could even learn not to welcome the clocks going back and the onset of damp, dark November!

Not in Sussex! Lots of towns have Bonfire Societies who put on wonderful displays... we went to Littlehampton only last night - big parade with costumes, flaming torches, marching bands; funfair; huge bonfire; fireworks display :-)

Yep but an online shopping day . That's why a lot of shops are not opening on Boxing Day it's not worth their while . I am glad though .

If you think about the origins of Guy Fawkes Night, I think it would be a good thing if it died out. I will never feel the same way about it after having watched “Gunpowder“ and realizing the history behind it all.

Sounds like you're turning Scottish, OP!

Hallowe'en was always more popular here for centuries! Ditto Hogmanay - Christmas Day was a day of work.

I haven’t seen many displays advertised locally (mid Cornwall) but I think that’s the way to go. Fireworks shouldn’t be sold to the general public. We start selling them where I work towards the end of October & some of them are massive. We have rabbits & will bring them indoors at night from tomorrow for at least a week. There were some let off last night but luckily a fair way away.

How far are you going back when you say Easter used to be more important?
I know it’s the number 1 Christian festival but we did bigger all for it in the seventies - apart from eat the odd chocolate. The Easter bunny was definitely in hibernation.

As far as I remember, penny for the guy came before putting him on the bonfire.