It's here!

Bonfire Night, that is!

I know I have a few new readers this year, who won't have heard me mention Bonfire Night and the Lewes celebrations before, so for them, and anyone who wants a quick recap, here are links to my posts from last year.

Bonfire Part 1
Bonfire Part 2
Bonfire Pics

Mum and I went out last night to the Cliffe banner raising, and I took a few photos. It was pretty crowded, and I didn't manage to get a shot of all four banners, just three of them, as I couldn't get far enough down the street for the fourth one. These are the best ones, though.



The first banner goes up. This one has the Cliffe Bonfire Society motto on - "Nulli Secundus", or "Second to None". With over 1000 members, Cliffe are the biggest of the seven Lewes societies.







The final banner, "Best wishes to Cliffe subscribers"



The most controversial of the four Cliffe banners. For those who are against the "No Popery" sentiment, and who may see it as "anti-Catholic", it's important to remember that Bonfire Night came about as a direct result of an Act of Parliament after the failed Gunpowder Plot, which directed that the 5th of November be remembered as "the joyful day of deliverance" from the Catholic-led plot. These days no-one in the Cliffe is anti-Catholic at all - in fact, many of the members are themselves Catholic.



Between 1555 and 1557, seventeen Sussex people were burned at the stake in Lewes, on the site of the current War Memorial, for refusing to renounce their Protestant beliefs in favour of Catholicism. This banner commemorates them.



I took a couple of video clips as well, but as I used high quality, they're too big to put online. They do show the sheer loudness of all the firecrackers and bangers that were let off in the street though, although there weren't as many as there usually are. It was a good start to Bonfire though, and I enjoyed it as usual.
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Now playing: Robson & Jerome - The White Cliffs Of Dover