Bonfire night - November 5
Known variously as Bonfire night, Guy Fawkes' Day or Firework night, November 5 is not a religious festival but its roots are in religious and political history. It commemorates the foiling of the 'Gunpowder Plot', an attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. James I passed an Act of Parliament (remaining in force until 1859) appointing November 5 as an annual day of thanksgiving and the people celebrated with fires and street festivities. It is still the custom in Britain (not Northern Ireland) to let off fireworks and have bonfires on which guys - effigies of Guy Fawkes - are burnt. Children still sometimes exhibit their guys on the streets and collect money for fireworks, saying, 'Penny for the guy'.
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