Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations
For many Sussex bonfire societies their bonfire night celebration has been and gone, but with Lewes generally being regarded as being the capital of the Sussex bonfires. Lewes will have theirs on the proper night which is always on the 5th November except if it falls on Sunday.
Years ago if the 5th fell on a Sunday then the Lewes Bonfires would be on the Monday.
So out of respect for the church etc, it will be on the Saturday, which is quite handy as most of the other Sussex bonfire societies can then join in the Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations on the 5th November.
This will number around 25 - 30 visiting societies, numerous marching bands of which I am a player in one, the visiting societies and bands will be spread across the six Lewes bonfire societies having their own bonfire night celebrations on the 5th November in Lewes.
There are 30 + processions during the night intermingling with each other through the narrow streets of Lewes with the bonfire night celebrations starting around 5.00 pm and finishing about 1am, each bonfire society will have their own routes, traditions, costumes, bonfire, fireworks, tableaux, and set pieces at their own fire sites.
"Tableaux (Tableaux Vivants) French For Living Picture"
The tradition of parading tableaux and enemies of bonfire especially those of Pope V probably has its roots in the Auto De Fe which was the ritual of public penance of condemned heretics during the marian persecutions.
The auto de fé involved a Catholic Mass; prayer; a public procession of those found guilty; and a reading of their sentences.The ritual took place in public squares or streets and lasted several hours with ecclesiastical and civil authorities in attendance.
The earliest form of this , that I know of is in 1679 when the Pope , Guy Fawkes and others were paraded in picture form on long poles by young armed men.
I like to think there is just friendly rivalry between the Lewes Bonfire Societies but it goes a little bit deeper than that. There is at times mild bigotry between some of its members, A good thing in my mind as it helps to keep the spirit of bonfire alive. And it is a topic that would take up a whole website and would not be 100% accurate as some of the history has been lost in the midst of time.
The Lewes bonfire night celebrations have never been for the General Public's benefit and never will be, It is for the members of each and every individual lewes bonfire society, all the planning, preparations, costumes, etc is provided and paid for by themselves, and fund raising is held throughout the year to pay for the firework display, torches, insurance, etc.
Input from the Sussex Bonfire Council , Lewes Bonfire Council and Emergency services exists mainly for the safety of the public due to the sheer numbers that turn up to watch, all the Lewes bonfire societies have a close if sometimes strained working relationship with the above to ensure that the Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations goes off with a bang !, more than Guy Fawkes achieved !
"A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody" . . . Thomas Paine
A Little Bit Of History ( Of The Top Of My Head! )
It is alleged that in the early hours of 5th November 1605 ( I think it was actually 4th November late evening and that the King was not told until the morning, they were afraid to wake him up . . wooses ! ) Guy Fawkes was caught guarding several barrels of gunpowder that was hidden in the Palace of Westminster cellars . this being there ready to be ignited on the opening of parliament.
The Cellars by the way in those days were at ground level , 1st floor was what we now call the upstairs ! . . Ground level was space with stilts supporting the main floor . Lewes District Council planners take note for flooding puposes please ! ! . .
If there was in fact all those barrels of black powder down there, it would have made one hell of bang had it gone off, he was arrested, tortured and executed along with the rest of his gang. From that day forward on the Fifth November every year, Bonfire Celebrations in Lewes have been held to commemorate the fact that he failed.
But it all started before that when Pope Paul IV was getting too big for his boots and was putting non conformists to the burning stake and was finally disposed of, this was the start of the celebrations ( 17 were put to the burning pyre in the 1500 s hence the 17 crosses seen in the town ) then there was the Prince Of Orange episode and more recently the two world wars ( Lest We Forget )
The Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations on the 5th November is not a dig at groups of individuals as such despite what you may see at the fire site or paraded around the town, or one of the many media circus versions, it serves as a reminder that we now have a freedom of choice and speech at a cost to believers lives, martyrs, soldiers etc, which was and still is denied to many peoples across the globe.
On the Lewes war memorial there are recorded approximately 235 names of the fallen during the 1st World War and approximately 129 names that fell during the 2nd World War . Everybody today who lives in Lewes and walks about unhindered owes a debt to all those brave young brothers , sons , husbands and fathers .
And yes representations of recent figures or events have been blown up in Lewes, this is done to highlight a problem or grievance that the common man has with the powers to be, sometimes it is actually a person but that person/s would have had to have done something really distasteful like trying to stop the Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations, leaking out the contents of a Tableau or generally misbehaving in a anti social manner.
No one gets hurt ( except for the ego ) nor is it the intention of anyone to hurt anybody, if the freedom of speech is curtailed then we will be on a slippery road back to 1605, and when we get there you can rest assured that the 20/36 barrels of gunpowder will be replaced with something akin to 20/36 nuclear warheads ? . . Religion, Politics, Money ,The Bomb . . Has man actually matured enough to be responsible for those yet ! 
The Lewes Bonfire Societies
There are at present seven societies in Lewes, Cliffe Bonfire Society, Ye Olde Lewes Borough Bonfire Society, Commercial Square Bonfire Society, South Street Bonfire Society, Waterloo Bonfire Society, Southover Bonfire Society and Nevill Juvenile Bonfire Society which have their bonfire night celebration a couple of weeks earlier.
There is some bigotry of some society members towards other bonfire societies, But in my book, all the bonfire societies are equal in the sense that they are all celebrating the freedom of/from oppression, speech, authoritarianism, etc and without them the Lewes Bonfire Celebrations would not be worthwhile or exist.
They were all formed at different times the earliest being around 1850, I am not going to get involved as to who was first or when as this is not 100% clear as day follows night, but will say that there were others in the past and that they have long gone, and that they were formed out of a need to be more " user friendly" as before there would be riots, street fires etc and the bonfire night celebrations were in danger of being closed down altogether, so the bonfire boy was born with his Hooped Guernsey and blackened face.
Over the course of time when the bonfire night celebrations became more acceptable, the outfits became costumes of allsorts ( NOT FANCY DRESS ) some basic, others very elaborate, taking a year or even more to help make the Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations the spectacular event it is today but to reiterate LEST WE FORGET the reasons behind it all.
Lewes Bonfire Celebrations
Bonfire Night T`is time for joy
Dress up now you belle and boye
Bring your rookies bring your smile
Line up now in orderly file.
Bright red flares pushing darkness back
Blinding many in a dance attack
Feet of many and hands held high
Lifting the torches in the sky.
Many costumes many shades
Walking steady in the haze
Sounds of drumming and of horn
Lewes has now been reborn.
Burgers filled with hot tender meat
Colourful people in the street
Drinking laughing singing high
Watching procession drifting by.
Down to the bonfire blazing bright
Push back the chill of winter's night
A faint sound echo's as if to start
A beat of music, a beat with heart.
The dark sky is filled with fires passion
The music is power with a fashion
Fireworks of colour light up the sky
Many sparks fly down as if to sigh.
Heads are looking up into the air
Eyes wide open many smiles they share
The music stops the cheering starts
Now they want more it's in their hearts.
Goodbye my friends for another year
Many years of laughter and of cheers
Thank you for bringing me a night full of love
And a night of passion coming from above.
The proud feeling of awe when watching this sight
Looking forward to it on a winters night
The Lewes bonfire celebrations will never rest
It will be always in my heart and always the best.
Original By Audrey Haney : Adapted By
My Involvement
When my Father died , My Mother (Bless Her Soul) wanted a fresh start and she asked me to choose somewhere new to live, I could not decide so she took a map out and opened it and told me to close my eyes. She then gave me a pin and instructed me to lay it where ever on the map blind and that is where we would move to. Lewes is where the pin landed.
We had lived for years only a couple of streets away from The Martyrs ( A Farm House where one of the sussex martyrs was apprehended ) and Martyrs Avenue named after the persecuted . Well Spooky in my mind and didnt have a clue to the reason behind their names.
My mother was a great believer in the American Indian Ideology and life beyond earth and its to her I thank for my views on life today.
We moved to Lewes in 1978 just before the Sussex bonfire season was underway, never heard of Lewes let alone the 5th November celebrations and was aware of the main topic of conversations, " bonfire celebration this bonfire that " and thought yeah right oh ! , Penny for the guy being taken too seriously and a big bonfire with lots of people and fireworks.
I went out that day and when I got back in the evening and found the road closures blocking my way to my local pub and all the people and cars parked willy nilly in the town, I thought what the £%$*, so I dumped my car and had a look around and all I could see were blazing torches everywhere and costume clad folk marching around the town.
I couldn't make head or tail of the events but enjoyed it all, and I ended up at a fire site somewhere and watched the fireworks and was then aware that this was not the only firework display in town, something big was happening tonight, I was hooked.
The following year by which I had met a local lass and married in 1980 who's birthday is the 4th November and was born on Lewes bonfire night ( the 5th fell on a Sunday that year so it was brought forward to the 4th ) we were living in a bed and breakfast in Station Street and watched some of the bonfire processions go by in the warm but ventured out at the end of the night for the fireworks.
For several years we watched the celebrations only and got to know what was what and the best viewing places, but always wondering what it would be like to be in it, finally in the mid 80s we were invited to join a town society which we accepted and stayed with them for 3 or 4 years, then one bonfire night in Lewes we got talking to a Village Bonfire Society and the rest as they say is history, we now belong to another town society as well.
We were both actively involved with the Village Bonfire Society and turned out for most of the Sussex bonfire night celebrations, and have recently left them due to stupid in house politics and joined another village bonfire society, we are at present " Silent Partners " , there has been a lot of changes some good and some nasty, have seen the demise of several societies in our short time and have always turned out for Home and Lewes ! .
Why It Only Happens In Lewes ?
To be absolutely honest I haven't a clue!, the building under threat was in London not Lewes, protestants were burnt at the stake everywhere not just in Lewes, William 111 landed at Torbay not the River Ouse, perhaps someone out there can enlighten me.
An Act of Parliament was passed on January 21st 1606 (3 James I, cap 1), to appoint 5th November in each year as a day of thanksgiving for 'the joyful day of deliverance'. This was by bell ringing, bonfires and etc.
Several references can be found in an old Lewes Churchwarden’s account book referring to payments made to bell ringers on the 5th November from at least 1661, A particular interesting entry dated 5th November 1723 states “ Nov, ye 5th. Item: Pd. ye ringers being ye day of Deliverance from ye powder plot.
It appears that sometimes when Lewes Folk are told what to do , they will if it suits them !
"To Be Able To Druv A Lewisian
You Will Need A Very Good Reason"
Another clue is that during the town's history, it was for a brief period the capital of England, this would have been after the Battle of Lewes in 1264 when the Mise of Lewes was signed.
The Mise of Lewes is considered by many to be the birth of democracy and the formation of the first proper "Parliament" and perhaps the locals felt that all the suffering on the battle fields of Lewes nearly went to waste by trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
Maybe it is that We Dare to fight For Independence and stay True To Each Other untill Death Or Glory and prove that we are Faithful Unto Death and will Advance for our beliefs and prove that we are Nulli Secundus in remembrance or possibly its the "We Wont Be Druv " personality of Lewes and its laid back attitudes that keeps the traditions alive, whatever the reason its a work of art, unique and has no equal anywhere . . . United We Stand.
Debrief
I do not claim to be an expert on any of the topics above, but have tried to be as accurate and neutral as my knowledge allows me, I have a few pages on this site covering the history, but there are lots of websites out there that cover the reasons behind the Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations on the 5th November and if you are heavily into history etc, then I would suggest that as a starting point you look in the Dmoz Directory . . .
The Carnival held on the Fifth of November,
Is a sight if once seen you will ever remember,
Such rousers and squibs,
Such torches and fire,
Gigantic processions, fantastic attire.
Nor would we forget how it once was the scene,
Of the burning of Martyrs when Mary was Queen,
The truth which led them to die at the stake,
May the people of Lewes never forsake.
Bernard Whiteman
