One of the great things about Ukarumpa is the mix of people and cultures who come to work here. My friend Helen is from Yorkshire and she’s always good for an interesting cultural event. So when she invited a group over for ‘Guy Fawkes Night’ I was intrigued. The actual night was the 5th of November but Helen was away in the village so she decided to celebrate on the 5th of December instead.
I’m still not quite sure what the day is to celebrate but I understand that people light a large bonfire, stand around warming their hands on mugs of hot drink and burn a man in effigy.
Well it wasn’t snowing here and it wasn’t particularly cold but it did rain and we ate lots of goodies including a British favorite, Parkin. The British youth (and Helen) enjoyed playing with burning sticks and everyone else just enjoyed the company and atmosphere.
ideally should also include fireworks and bonfire toffee. As for what its about – it commemorates an attempt to blow up the British parliament with several barrels of gunpowder rather a long time ago, and supposedly celebrates the failure of that attempt. But mostly it’s to give the Brits something cultural to in November.