Gunpowder And Ghosts

[poliphilo]

I think bonfire night is dying out. There were very few fireworks last night- and they stopped early. I smelled bonfires around tea-time, but I didn't see any.

Two explanations. One is that it's being swamped by Halloween. The other is that our safety-first culture is killing it. I saw a news item a few days back about a police task force in Liverpool that was going round confiscating "illegal" fireworks. They'd collected over a ton. Spoilsports, I thought.

A third possibility is that I've got a skewed view of things from living in a Muslim area.

Living TV had a show in which "acclaimed spirit medium" Derek Acorah investigated sites associated with the Gunpowder Plot, picking up on residual energy and talking to ghosts.  Professor Ron Hutton, historian of Wicca, was scoring his performance. Very impressive it was too, which points- I suppose- to his having done his research- which wasn't always the case on Most Haunted.  It sounds absurd, but this was actually quite a neat little history lesson- and I learned things I hadn't known before. When Acorah enacted the last moments of the gang's leader Robert Catesby-  who died clutching an image of the Virgin after charging a line of musketeers-  it was curiously moving.  Terrorists may be wicked in all manner of ways, but don't try telling me they aren't brave.

Comments

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Our Fourth of July and Pre-Christmas tree lightings or New Years Eve fireworks are mainly managed by the local governments now. Private ownership of fireworks has been banned in most communities. When I was a kid we had tremendous bonfires on July Fourth - lots of fun - bring your trash, etc. and add to the pile. No more of that - smog and safety regulations, you know. Also when I was a kid even though in Massachusetts private fireworks were against the law, many people still had them and fired them off in backyards. Occasionally now on July Fourth one can see smaller displays of aerials in surrounding areas (still illegal). Halloween also used to have certain aromas associated with it -- candy apples, burning leaves, pumpkin pie, not so much now. We cannot burn leaves any more, instead they go to compost piles (a good thing for the soil).
Wow! What wound me up just now? Nostalgia, I guess. I can smell in my imagination the scent of burning leaves...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We used to have fireworks parties when I was a child. We had a big yard and all my friends would come.

I think we're in danger of legislating fun out of existence. Children are so cocooned and protected these days.