The Bonfire Boys (and Girls)

Sussex is pretty much on fire for most of November.

It's Bonfire Season.

Right across the county - and even into Kent - bonfires are lit and fire-themed parades are held to mark both Guy Fawkes Night and the burning of 17 Protestant martyrs in Lewes High Street from 1555 to 1557 during the reign of Mary Tudor. Bonfire Societies exist in each town to collect money for local charities and to keep the bonfire tradition, quite literally, burning. As their group motto says, 'We Burn for Good'.

The history of the Bonfire Societies is fascinating but far too complicated to cover in depth here (though you can read about it here). The short version is that Guy Fawkes night was traditionally a night where riotous behaviour was tolerated more than usual, so it was used as cover for protests against authority and inequality. Disenfranchised workers became increasingly politicised by radicals like Tom Paine, who lived in Lewes, and gangs of 'Bonfire Boys' began building bonfires and burning effigies of politicians, nobility, factory owners and prominent clerics to show their displeasure. From 1827 the Bonfire Boys became more organised and darkened their faces to prevent arrest. Despite attempts to ban the fires, the burnings continued.

Then, in 1850, the Pope restored Catholic bishops in England including the new Archbishop of Westminster. There was an enormous public Protestant backlash and the Bonfire Boys in Lewes burned an effigy of the Pope and paraded banners stating No Popery Here. New Bonfire Societies sprang up where none had previously existed and East Sussex burned with outrage. Lewes still retains its Pope burning and other societies still burn effigies of unpopular politicians and other public figures.

In recent years there have been claims of a Pagan connection to the bonfires but, apart from fire as one of Paganism's five elements, there is no evidence of any true link. However, the Pagan revival of the early 20th century has seen many groups co-opted into bonfire organisation. 

Due to the size and number of events and mutual collaboration between some societies, it became impractical to hold all the bonfires on the traditional Fifth of November. This resulted in  a 'Bonfire Season' that stretches across ten weeks through September, October and November. The first of the Sussex Bonfire Societies' events starts with the Uckfield Carnival on the first Saturday of September and concludes with Hawkhurst and Barcombe festivals on the third Saturday of November. 

Meanwhile, the feast days of St Catherine and St Clement fall on the 23rd and 25th of November and in past times it was common for folk to go 'Catterning and Clemening' around their districts in search of generous donations of apples and beer to mark the festivals. Special songs were sung and cattern cakes were baked. These customs had faded away over time, but at Hastings they have been revived by the Bonfire Society. The Bonfire Boys - and Girls too these days - tour the town, moving from pub to pub in festive attire singing songs and lighting Catherine Wheels as they go.

   

So, if you're in Hastings this evening, enjoy the spectacle.

A penny loaf to feed the Pope 

A farthing o’cheese to choke him, 

A pint of beer to rinse it down 

A faggot of sticks to burn him!

 

Burn him in a tub of tar 

Burn him like a blazing star, 

Burn his body from his head 

Then we’ll say old Pope is dead!

The Hastings Bonfire Society website is here.

The Lewes Bonfire Society website is here.