Fireworks, Bonfires, Guy Fawkes - 5th November

Hi all, after the success of Halloween on Numbakulla (I'll be posting pictures up later to the web site), I thought it would be good to use the sim to celebrate Bonfire Night. This is something particular to the UK, and is a night (5th November) when we celebrate the notorious traitor Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliment in 1605. It consists of lots of fireworks and effigies of Mr. Fawkes being burned on bonfires. Sparklers a-plenty, and oooohs and aaahhhhs guaranteed for all the family (only in the UK eh!)

So if you're interested in this I'm keeping the auto-return off on the island so people can come and create their own fireworks, fires, Guy Fawkes etc. I'll also do an event on Friday (which is the 5th) where we can try and get as many fireworks released as possible.

If the non-Brits want to find out more about 5th November celebrations in the UK have a look here http://www.bonefire.org/guy/

Oh and I'll be giving L$250 again to people who come and build something for the celebration. But it has to be something you have built, and not something created by somebody else that you just place out.

Of course the main point to all this is to help make people aware of the Numbakulla Island Project Competition, details on which can be found here: http://www.numbakulla.com/

Sounds cool!

Talk about a bad famous name

The only other time I've heard of Guy Fawkes (*giggle*) was on that one episode of Daria.

When I was a child (back in neolithic times) the children used to finance their buying of fireworks by parading their Guy Fawkes effigy, and knocking at front doors with the cry: "Penny for the Guy!" Of course, inflation has taken its toll since then.

I can remember doing this, wheeling the Guy we had around in a wheelbarrow with a sign on it, when I was about 10 or so but I haven't seen it happen for many years now.

We have been planning a similar event for Cat Tropez in Amida as a grand opening on the 5th. We are having a large bonfire and a very nice firework display organised by one of SL's finest pyrotecnicians . I have thought up a suitable quiz topical to the occasion.
We will post further details in events.

It might be an idea if we try to stagger the times a bit Moopf so we can also attend yours and also to cover the evening better.

Yeah, that's fine by me. Drop me an IM and we'll working out timings so we can support each other's Bonfire Night celebrations

I've added the Halloween gallery to the Numbakulla web site here:

http://www.numbakulla.com/photos/

As Bobby has said, we at Cat Tropez will be having a Bonfire Night as our opening event on Friday. I've never built anything before apart from very basic shaps, so couldn't resist the temptation to have a go at building a Guy..... this is the result, which I'm quite proud of.

I too enjoyed taking part in this ritual when I was younger Shame it didn't last long though.

Damien, let's build a wheel barrow and a guy and take it round SL for Vertu!

Can we throw some
Dia de los Muertos stuff into the mix?

Come to think of it, I think Mexico has these pinata-esque figures loaded with firecrackers. They represent (or originally represented) Judas and get the snap-crackle-pop-boom treatment.
I'm probably botching and oversimplifying the cultural details here (and welcome any experts to set this straight). But it's interesting how the "blow up an effigy of the traitor with firecrackers" appears in both cultures.

Hey, by all means. The pinata idea ia great - I've been to two children's parties over the last few days, both that had pinatas - great fun! If you need any help scripting a pinata let me know, that could be a good addition.

To be traditional, we'll have to wait till Easter season to blow up Judas.
Then again, SL is a culture of its own and a November Guy Fawkes/Judas exploda-thon combo may be in order.
Then again, I've possibly alienated both Mexican and British SL players for tampering with their holidays. The kind of thing that my (American) college professors would babble about "Cultural Misapropriation... blah blah blah... ridicules belittles rich tradition blah blah blah.. since Olympia is neither British nor Mexican she is incapable of comprehending the actuality of..)

Maybe I'll just blow up an effigy of people who drive too slow in the fast lane

No, no, it's what we Americans do best! -- misappropriating, tampering with, and blowing up other peoples' cultures. Let's help our international brothers and sisters celebrate death and centuries-old acts of terrorism by doing what we do best. We'd honor them; I'm sure they'd understand.

I'm saddened to hear this no longer happens. It was a big part of my childhood too.

I wanna make Osama Pinata...

Siggy.

As a child I thought it was the best celebration imaginable : ) Too bad we don't get the smell of the fireworks in SL.

It's not quite a UK-only celebration. Still celebrated quite faithfully in Newfoundland, Canada (we didn't join Canada until the late '40's after all). Haven't had a good bonfire in a long time, will bring the beer and marshmallows!


- Newfie Pendragon

I read about this the other day - I didn't realise it was celebrated in other places as well!

We celebrated it during my Army service in Australia - sadly I never saw it celebrated as a civilian. If I remember correctly (and in this case if I don't it will only support the case) it was a quite a good piss-up.

Siggy.

We still sort of get penny for the guy requests in Yorkshire, although it is more likely to be demands for a pound nowadays.

The worst ever, in terms of early start, was when I was returning from a summer break. August Bank Holiday Monday I got asked for a penny for the guy!

There's really nothing to oversimplify with Guy Fawkes. He filled the cellars of the Houses of Parliment full of gunpower and got caugh before he could light the fuse... Hence the fireworks.

But considering all the assorted rebelions by various groups and individuals that were subsequently put down by the government and yet we still remember and celebrate those involved, are we actually celebrating Guy being caught and executed, or the fact that he tried....

Unfortuantely as SL is going to be offline for around 5 hours today and as not many people have built something for Bonfire Night yet on the island, I'm going to have to cancel this. I won't have time to finish my builds for it either because fo the down time.

Anyway, people who have already built I will honour the L$250, and to all others who were going to build - sorry.

That's too bad.
I'm sorry to hear that.

Any plans for other upcomming holidays?

Not currently no, do you have one in mind?