Guy Fawkes Night 寻踪.docVIP

Guy Fawkes Night 寻踪吉林的Silvia问： 最近，收到了一个远在英国的朋友发来的电邮，在信中提到她正在期待着一睹盖伊 Tom： 其实，我们以前曾在杂志里提到过这个节日，只不过，上次介绍得比较简单扼要。这次，应Silvia的要求，我就将盖伊了解这方面内容的读者有所帮助。 ◎ Bonfire Night Guy Fawkes Night is also known as Bonfire Night or Fireworks Night, and takes place every year on the 5th of November. Despite not being an official public holiday, it is very popular and certainly more widely celebrated than many official holidays. Although originally intended to celebrate the failure of the plot, it’s often unclear whether people are celebrating the fact that the plotters didn’t succeed, or that someone had the daring to try and ①blow up the House of Lords and the oppressive king. Celebrations take place in cities, towns and villages across the country. They involve firework displays and bonfires. On top of the bonfire an effigy of Guy Fawkes is burnt, more commonly just referred to as the “guy”. These dummies are made by stuffing old clothes, often by local children. The bonfire celebrations usually take place in parks, organized by local groups, at schools or even in people’s gardens. Barbecues are very popular as a sideline to the bonfire, though the sausages and burgers are burnt pretty often, since it’s hard to see what you’re cooking in the dark. The night is closely associated with a popular rhyme: Remember, remember, the Fifth of November Gunpowder, treason and plot. Despite the nature of the events commemorated, little political or sectarian significance is attached to Bonfire Night these days. Bonfire night is now just as celebrated within Britain’s Catholic communities as by everyone else. Only the Sussex town of Lewes continues to hold Bonfire Night celebrations that are expressly anti-Catholic, and they have ②come under fire from a wide range of critics in recent times. Strangely enough, until 1959, it was illegal in England not to celebrate the date of Guy Fawkes’ arrest. In recent times, celebrations have often been held on nights other than N