Bonfire, fireworks and a guy called Guy.

Tomorrow it is bonfire night in the UK! We all stand around a fire watching a Guy Fawkes puppet (sitting on the top) being burnt to death, eating hotdogs and jacket potatoes, drinking beer and wine (adults only) and reciting.

‘Remember, Remember 5 November, gunpowder, treason and plot’.

Then there’s a fireworks display, where we all stand around open mouthed in amazement, murmuring ‘wow’ & ‘wee’ in between munching on our hotdogs and jacket potatoes, guzzling yet more beer and wine (adults only) and reciting less in tune with the rest and a lot more slurred.

To the uninitiated outsider, it may seem like some kind of funeral Pagan ritual. To anyone in the know it’s an event to celebrate the thwarting of the Gunpowder plot.

I hope I have whetted your appetite to find out more about this weird and wonderful part of British culture. Why don’t you watch this short vid https://youtu.be/fMNOnYxhpOY to get more info on the historical side of Bonfire night.

To recite (vortragen), gunpowder (Schießpulver), treason (Landesverrat), plot’(Verschwörung), fireworks display (Feuerwerk), to murmur (murmeln), to munch on sth (mampfen), to guzzle (schlürfen), slurred (undeutlich), uninitiated (uneingeweihte), funeral (Beerdigung) Pagan (heidnisch),  to thwart (vereiteln), to whet sb’s appetite (jdm Lust auf mehr machen)

2 Gedanken zu „Bonfire, fireworks and a guy called Guy.

  1. Jenny Antworten

    Fun Fact: Even though Guy Fawkes isn‘t that famous in Germany, we all know his face! In the graphic novel „V for vendetta“ the protagonist V, an anarchist and terrorist, disguises himself as Guy Fawkes by wearing a mask: stylised grinning white face, red cheeks, moustache and little beard at the chin. Does it ring a bell?
    Several organisations, protesters, and activists like Anonymous or Occupy to name but a few have taken up this mask as symbol and identification.

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