Arcadia England

Bonfires, Fireworks and Poppies...

Now that the clocks have gone back, we’ll all be feeling indisputably wintry. Early November brings two very British (English?) events into focus: you might already have detected signs of one of them – people on the tube, in the streets and on TV are sporting red poppies. The other one used to be far more visible but is still a BIG DEAL in suburbia and in smaller towns and villages across the country: Bonfire Night, November 5^th.

First up: “remember, remember, the fifth of November” runs the old rhyme that schoolkids used to chant. On or about the 5^th November we still light bonfires and have firework displays in commemoration of a thwarted 17^th century terrorist plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament along with all of its occupants. Guy Fawkes (remember the Occupy mask?) was a disgruntled, persecuted Catholic who was part of the Gunpowder Plot to destroy the ascendant Protestant establishment led by James I of England (James VI of Scotland) who in 1605 looked to be reinforcing the repression of Catholics. The conspirators were betrayed and caught red-handed in the cellars beneath Parliament and were killed in flight or subsequently (gruesomely) executed. Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy and – since we have no July 4^th fireworks – this has become an occasion for public and private firework displays. Parents will often invite their kids’ friends over for a Bonfire Night with sausages, baked potatoes and so forth. Sadly, however, this British tradition is being eclipsed by a transatlantic import: Halloween. Since you know all about trick or treat, I’ll move on to the second, more serious commemorative event:  November 11^th. 

At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 the First World War came to an end. In Britain, the staggering losses and sacrifices made in WWI are commemorated via Remembrance Sunday (November 8^th) and the wearing of poppies bought in support of the UK equivalent of the VFW – the British Legion. Buying and wearing the red poppy (symbol of the blood-drenched Western Front where nearly 1 million British & British Empire soldiers died) doesn’t just channel funds into the care and support of veterans; it also has huge cultural and “public memory” significance. Last year – the centenary of the outbreak of WW1 in 1914 – the moat of the Tower of London was filled with nearly 1 million ceramic poppies; one for every British & Empire soldier killed. Unlike the US experience of war – overseas and distant (which in no diminishes the pain and loss) - the British and European experience of war in the 20^th century has been closer and more visceral; the scars and shadows are still with us today and given meaning through the poppy symbol. As a mark of your understanding, perhaps buy and wear one?