For those that don't know it in NZ we celebrate Guy Fawkes.....a mad englishman that tried to blow up the English Parliament
way back beyond.
Here that involves letting off copious amounts for fireworks......
My dog hasn't so much as whimpered so I guess he isn't gonna be gun-shy at this rate. I checked him and he was asleep.

The neighbours dog on the other hand is howling its guts out. And my cat has already staked his claim in our bedroom......no fireworks there tonight!

I hate this event, it undermines all we teach about explosives and safety and actually celebrates a terrorist! Go figure.

I guess it is the same reason Mythbusters are popular, it is not the science, it is the BOOM!

comercialised to the hilt now too!!!! big money for retailers or it would have died a natural death years ago... when was the last time you went to a bomfire that had Guy figures on it to be burnt like we had as kids??? too unPC for todays crowd!!!!

Our 'cracker night' was the Queens Birthday weekend in June.
It was banned 30 years ago. To many injuries.
Some of the bonfires were fantastic.

tikkat3 wrote:

Our 'cracker night' was the Queens Birthday weekend in June. It was banned 30 years ago. To many injuries. Some of the bonfires were fantastic.

They were magnificent days weren't they Tiks...I really miss Cracker Night and wish I could introduce my grandkids to it just once.

Maybe we will have some kinds of celebrations like this when the current resident(occupier)of the white house is voted out in a few more days!

We also celebrate Guy Fawkes night but it isn't him but his capture and the foiling of the "Gunpwder Plot". Unfortunately some hoodlums who could use a stint of military disciplne have taken to throwing in propane bottles and aerosol cans so fires have been curtailed. When I was a scoutmaster we would collect wooden debris for weeks. The fire was started remotely using garbage bags filled with kerozene soaked crumple paper. Ignition was provided by a model rocket motor pellet and igniter. Blasting wire was run over the ground then covered in soil. A leader hidden behind the bushes would use a battery to set off the igniter on cue from me or whomever was running the show. The community would all come out for the fire and we had smaller fires for the kids to roast marshmellows, weiners or bread twists.

funny thing Mac D I had forgotten the marshmellows and damper that we did in the cub scouts till I read your post... aah happier times they were.

When I was a kid in England, we would get wood and anything that would burn for the fire.

One year, '62 or '63, it was reported that we had the biggest fire in England, we had a cut down tree , that had been dumped on our bombsite, from WW2, as the center. The height was about 25 feet high and 12 or so feet in diameter. We ignited that succa with a couple of gallons of parafin oil. Burnt for 3 days, and no one was worried.

Of course we had a pile of fireworks, spuds in tinfoil cooked in the fire and an effigy of god old Guy on the top of the fire.

radar wrote:

I hate this event, it undermines all we teach about explosives and safety and actually celebrates a terrorist! Go figure.

I thought the actual celebration was the fact he was caught and dragged and quartered. Not because of "him" per say?

Dimitri

Dimitri,
Yes you are right but people have forgotten that.
NZ should celebrate our National day with fireworks not some English crackpot.

You don't use fireworks on your national day?

Dimitri

Its illegal to use fireworks except on the 5 days prior to and including Guy Fawkes night (tonight) absolute BS.
I used to buy them and hold them until New Years eve but sometimes the gunpowder dampens and its all down hill from there

That sucks. Here illegal or not, you can buy fire crackers all year long, and police typically don't bother kids shooting the occasional one during a non-holiday.

Dimitri

in oz fireworks is illegal all year round.