PENNY for the Guy

We take a look at Derbyshire’s bonfire tradtions through history

- Richard Bradley

Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night, is still widely celebrated across the UK, with some degree of regional variation. Up in York, they aren’t keen on burning effigies of Guy Fawkes, what with him having been a local boy. Down in Sussex, they really go to town, with several Bonfire Societies organizing costumed parades through their home towns involving pyrotechnics and flaming torches, climaxing in huge fires, throughout ‘Bonfire Season’, lasting from September to November. In Derbyshire, whilst we don’t have anything quite so spectacular, my research into local folklore has revealed interesting local quirks.

Whilst Guy Fawkes’ failed plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament did indeed take place on November 5, 1605, bonfires have been burning at this time of year for far longer. The Pagan Celtic festival of Samhein, marking the end of the harvest season and the onset of the long dark nights of winter, was held between October 31 and November 1. November 2 was All Souls Day and it was thought by our ancestors this was the time of the year people had the closest contact with their dead relatives (a belief that can also be seen in Mexico’s Day of the Dead, also held on this day).