h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

When I was a child everyone in the road I lived in used to pool together on Bonfire Night and hold a big firework party that was held in the fields at the end of the road.

Everyone would bring food; some would bring baked potatoes, others sausages and so on, and someone would be responsible for bringing a big vat of Heinz tomato soup. We'd sit outside watching fireworks, hands cupped around a steaming mug of hot soup. Wonderful. Traditional firework fare in my household anyway.

Much the same sort of thing happened at my home when I was a child. However as I got older and more aware of the world around me, I could no longer ignore the anti-Catholic origin of Bonfire Night. As a result I don't think I've been to any kind of party on that night in the last 15 years.

Add toasted cheese sandwiches to the tomato soup and you have the perfect comfort food meal.

Roz.

Or sprinkle grated cheddar on the top - lovely! Mmmm...

Greydesk, I don't believe Bonefire was originally anti-catholic at all... If I remember well, it is a Pagan tradition that predates catholicism by many centuries...

If it was later diverted into what you say it is, it only happened in UK, I guess...

So, you see, you can stil go out and enjoy a good old pagan feast without being "anti-catholic" !

Nope I'm afraid you are completely wrong about that. There is a tradition dating back in an unbroken line to the anniversary of the capture of Guy Fawkes, in which an effigy of him his burnt on a bonfire and everyone has a jolly good time. The fact that this date is more or less the same as Sanhuinn is entirely coincidental as no one celebrated Pagan festivals at the beginning of the 17th Century.