Mrs Hudson Says… Do you partake in these Bonfire Night Traditions

Every month, Mrs Hudson, along with her three children and Dinky the Irish Wolfhound investigate the best family and dog-friendly heritage attractions that the UK has to offer.

As much as I love the summer months, this time of year is my favourite, it’s full of cosy, family friendly activities and now the kids are getting older, there won’t be many more years where I can enjoy all the fun of bonfire night, heading to Santa’s Grotto or the other fun of the season. Sometimes I think the lead up to Christmas is more fun than the day itself!

Before the Big C though, there is Bonfire Night and we Hudsons do love the traditions of the day!

For those of you reading this from overseas, Bonfire Night, aka Guy Fawkes Night, has become a staple in Britain’s calendar which commemorates the Gun Powder Plot, though I am not sure whether we are celebrating the failure or the fact that someone had the gall to attempt to blow up parliament in the first place. Anyway, the Gun Powder Plot took place in 1605. At the time, Britain’s Catholics were being persecuted, so a group of them, founded by Robert Catesby and including Guy Fawkes, came up with a plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament on the opening of Parliament while King James I was present. They hoped that the explosion would kill the king, which would enable them to install James’ young daughter as monarch – they believed that as she was young, they could influence her to change policy on Catholicism.

The plot was rumbled and Guy Fawkes was captured on 5^th November in the cellar of the Houses of Parliament, where he was in charge of guarding the gun powder. The other plotters were eventually all captured or killed and from then on, it became tradition to lit bonfires and to create and burn a Guy – an effigy of Guy Fawkes.

For a time, celebrating Bonfire Night was even mandatory by law! There were exceptions, for instance, there are certain places around York that refused to take part out of loyalty to Guy Fawkes, who grew up in the city. His former school is still there and continues to avoid many of the traditions of the evening. For us though, we love celebrating Bonfire Night – over the years, we’ve incorporated many of the traditional elements of the night into our festivities, including the following:

Visiting a firework display

We don’t hold our own at home because of Dinky*, however, we do like to support local good causes by going to charity displays. While watching the fireworks and the bonfire, the kids like to create a Guy, with others in the community and take it along to add to the bonfire. Another thing we like is to light sparklers – though make sure to read all the instructions, they can get very hot and must be disposed of properly.

*I say we don’t hold our own because of Dinky, but he usually sleeps through fireworks from neighbours!

Building a Guy

Where we live, we like to keep the tradition of a Guy alive. Guys were traditionally built of rags and stuffed with whatever was available. In years gone by, you would take the Guy from door to door and collect pennies before being added to a bonfire. Today, all the local kids come together to help put the Guy together and he is displayed before the fireworks kick off. During the Covid years, we attempted to build our own at home, but we weren’t very successful!

Eating toffee apples and Parkin

While I am proudly Welsh, Mr Hudsons roots hail from the north of England, where a traditional bonfire night treat is a type of treacle cake called Parkin. We like to bake ours as a family and eat it with mugs of hot chocolate when we get home from the display to warm up.

Another firm favourite for this time of year are toffee apples. You can buy them in supermarkets but when the kids were younger, we liked to make our own! The boys are partial to a chocolate apple rather than a toffee one but the concept is the same!

Will you be partaking in any Bonfire Night traditions?