Abstract
Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Day, 5 November, marks the anniversary of the failed plan to blow up the English Parliament in 1605. Guy Fawkes was discovered in the cellar below the Houses of Parliament with enough gunpowder to blow the legislature and the King to smithereens. Bonfire Night celebrates the saving of the King and Parliament from the plotters. Bonfire societies plan, organise and carry out local celebrations which are attended by tens of thousands of ordinary British men, women and children who cheer the lighting of the traditional Bonfires. Across the country, Bonfires are lighted to commemorate the ‘joyful day of deliverance’. On the surface, 5 November marks the triumph of English Parliamentary democracy over what would now be called ‘terrorism’. As such, the Bonfires and parties which surround them can be seen to mark popular support for the traditions of British democracy.
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