Anne here, and today I’m talking about festivals. Yes, people in the USA are celebrating Independence Day today, but I’m talking about small, community festivals of all kinds, in different places.
Two weeks ago, people in both hemispheres were celebrating the summer or winter solstice. I’m in the Southern Hemisphere, so we were celebrating the Winter Solstice, and looking forward to brighter and warmer days to come. People in the Northern Hemisphere who were celebrating the Summer Solstice (especially those in Europe and the UK) would be looking forward to cooler days.
Many of the photos I’m sharing here are from this years Winter Solstice night in a medium sized country town where Kelly Hunter, a writer friend of mine, lives. They had a “Lantern Festival” which started with a lantern parade, and then a community bonfire. Kelly sent me her photos, which I’ve used with her permission.
Many of the lanterns were home made, and they even had a few different workshops to teach people how to make them — some easy ones for children, others for adults, and some of them absolute works of art, I think you’ll agree. It’s a two day drive from where I live, otherwise I would have been there like a shot. There are instructions for making lanterns here and more on the web.
I particularly loved these owl and moon lanterns.
Lantern festivals are found in many places.
I loved this one — a “Parliament of Owls” in Atlanta.
I seem to have a thing about owls.
And in the UK I found a lantern-making workshop using willow branches — and these (below left) are what they made. A spectacular sight isn’t it?
When I was a child, Bonfire Night (also called Cracker Night) was an annual highlight. In one of the towns I lived in, we kids would spend weeks dragging dead and fallen branches up to the favoured site for our bonfire, which was opposite my house, on a kind of cliff overlooking a lagoon. A few days before Bonfire Night, the adults would get involved and the bonfire would magically increase in size and substance.
Bonfire Night was on 5th November — a British commemoration of the failure of Guy Fawkes to destroy the Houses of Parliament. Not that most of us kids knew or cared about that — we just loved the bonfire and setting off the crackers. But we still burned a “guy” on the top of the bonfire.
It wasn’t even about that for a lot of adults. Bonfire Night was a good opportunity to get rid of the dead wood and flammable brush before summer, and bushfire season, because November is just before the start of summer here. Some places also lit a bonfire on the Saturday of the Queen’s Birthday long weekend (21 May).
But it was always a big community celebration. In the various small towns I lived in as a child, there would be several bonfires in different parts of the town, and people would compete for the biggest. The local shops would sell crackers and decorative fireworks — sky rockets, “Roman Candles”, Catherine wheels (which were very pretty but had a horrible history about the torture and death of St Catherine).
We kids would save up for weeks to buy crackers. The little kids had sparklers to wave around and make patterns in the night, and the older ones had crackers — from the smallest “Tom Thumbs” which the daring ones would let off in their hands, up to the big “Bungers” which bad boys threw at other bad boys. (And yes there were always a few injuries.) I’ll never forget that gunpowdery smell. I loved it.
We would cook sausages on sticks, and eat them in bread with tomato sauce (ketchup), and at the ending of the night, we’d wrap potatoes in foil and slide them into the ash at the edge of the bonfire. Then at dawn, we kids would race out and dig the potatoes out and eat them with butter and salt for breakfast. The outside of the potato was invariably charred and crusty, and some people would scoop the soft inners out, but some of us ate the crust as well. Some people would also cook breakfast — sausages and eggs and bacon and toast in the coals, which were sill alive. It was often a morning of loud bangs too, as kids would find unlit crackers dropped and lost in the dark.
In the mid ’80’s the selling of crackers was banned because of the number of injuries, and some places required permission to hold bonfires and gradually people stopped having them. A few of my country friends still have the occasional one on private property, mainly to clear away dead branches and prunings to help prevent bushfires.
But these days Asian shops sell crackers again, as they’re a big part of Lunar New Year celebrations. I often go to the local Vietnamese and Chinese celebrations and enjoy the scent (and sound) of the crackers, as well as the lovely street-food that’s on sale.
And in some places, local councils have been prevailed upon to allow bonfires again — with safety measures in place — the first bonfire in years for some people.
Another recent local celebration, this time during the day, and with no fires or loud noises, was attended by my friend Barbara Hannay, in Townsville, Far North Queensland. It was a “festival of the wind” and it involved the flying of hundreds of kites, big and small, fancy or simple.
I love these smallish festivals where people get together and celebrate the seasons in creative and fun ways. Will you in the US be attending any celebrations this week? And do you celebrate the solstice at all? Do you love bonfires? What other special do celebrations you enjoy — tell us a little about them.
In the UK, when I was growing up, we used to have bonfires and fireworks in the back garden for 5 November. Then a lot of areas started doing community events. However these tend to be a lot bigger and noisier and that has drawn complaints from the neighbours. Every year in the village I live in, there is agitating for ‘silent’ fireworks.
More interesting in this area in terms of small, local festivals, are the Common Ridings. I am in the Scottish Borders and every summer, the small towns each have a week long celebration of riding the boundaries. It is astonishing what gets organised – parades, ride outs, dog shows, fairs, evening parties, duck races. And this all happens while rain storms are dodged :-). It is a lot of fun and very binding for the community. https://scotlandstartshere.com/ridings-festivals/
Alice that looks wonderful. I love that sort of community festival — am chuckling at the duck races. And thanks for the link. I’m envious.
In some places here, loud fireworks are supposed to stop at certain hours, but of course there are always rebels who go later.
What a nice article on the bonfire traditions and I love the lanterns. I am a big fan of the late Queen and for her Platinum Jubilee I hosted a bonfire and dessert party on the night they lit the bonfires in the UK. Friends were a bit puzzled but enjoyed the party.
During the run up to today’s July 4th celebration we have attended several music events this week; a local community’s town band concert and another town’s pipe and drum event. Enjoyed both! Now if I can get hubby out for the third night in a row we will take in the local fireworks display.
What a lovely idea, Denise — I love the idea of a bonfire and dessert party — so civilized. And having Scots blood, I’m a sucker for a pipes and drum parade.
I hope you get to be outside for the fireworks tonight. Live fireworks are wonderful.
Anne, what a great celebration of the diverse festivals! My experience in the US is of parades and fireworks, which are fun, but, alas, nothing like the celebrations you describe.
Mary Jo, that “Parade of Owls” lantern festival was in Atlanta, so I’m sure there must be more lantern festivals in other parts of the USA. I hope it’s a growing trend. There are also “festivals of the Wind” celebrations in various places, so with any luck you can find one not far from you and enjoy the spectacular kites. I hope you get to see some spectacular fireworks tonight.
What a wonderful post, Anne. Thanks to you and to your friend, Kelly Hunter, for sharing her photos. I do like that Atlanta parliament-of-owls parade!
Glad you enjoyed it, Kareni, and I’ll pass on your thanks to Kelly. I think quite a few of us are admirers of the owl lanterns and that parade looks like fun.
I love the homemade lanterns, so much artistry there!
They’re beautiful, aren’t they, Karin. I went googling to see how some of them were made.
Here in Finland we celebrate solstice and midsummer (we call it Juhannus), though the celebration day isn’t necessarily at solstice. And yes, we have bonfires – considering there is no forest fire warning.
Wikipedia Midsummer Finland
Thanks, Minna. Celebrating midsummer with a bonfire sounds wonderful. Here’s the link to the Wikipedia entry you mentioned. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer
I love owls and the parade of them looks wonderful!! Thanks for this lovely post and pictures!
You’re welcome, Teresa — the owls are beautiful, I agree. My favourite is the one with the moon lantern — the second photo. The owl’s expression is perfect. But I love that parade of owls as well.
I think this is an example of social media at its best, where people post things they’ve made or organized and it inspires others.
I particularly remember celebrating defeating the Spanish Armada by lighting bonfires on hills across the country. The first bonfire was ignited in Cornwall where the Armada was sighted, then as this was observed the next fire was ignited and a trail of bonfires ignited one after the other as far as the Scottish border. I think it took less than half an hour to complete the chain!
https://www.csmonitor.com/1988/0808/oarma.html
Celebrating Guy Fawkes night was also great fun as a child.
Thanks, Quantum. The lighting of those bonfires along the southern coast of England truly was an impressive and effective warning device. I remember learning about it at school when I was a child, and also how Sir Francis Drake insisted on finishing his game of bowls before heading off to fight the Spanish Armada — though that might be a slightly embellished tale.
I miss bonfires and was delighted to read that in some places they’re bringing bonfires back. I saw a post on FaceBook where someone posted about how much he liked and missed the kinds of cracker night and bonfires he experienced as a child, and there were loads of people joining in and bewailing “the nanny state” that had banned fire crackers.