the.com/bonfire night
The UK commemorates a failed act of terrorism by setting fire to his effigy and buying explosives legally.
means An annual UK commemoration (5 November) marked by fireworks and bonfires, often topped with a 'guy' effigy, recalling the foiled Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
from 'Bonfire' itself likely comes from 'bone fire' — medieval fires built from bones of slaughtered animals or, grimly, the remains of executed heretics and plague victims, later softened into the generic word for any large outdoor blaze. 'Bonfire Night' as a name attaches to 5 November because Londoners lit celebratory fires the very night Guy Fawkes's plot to blow up Parliament was discovered in 1605; Parliament soon made public thanksgiving (and burning) an annual observance, which over centuries drifted from solemn relief into the fireworks-and-effigy tradition kept today.
- origin
- Guy Fawkes failed to blow up Parliament in 1605
- irony level
- celebrating by burning the guy, not the king
- date
- always November 5th, rain or shine
- modern form
- fireworks, bonfires, mushy peas, minor hearing damage