Who's Looking Forward to Fireworks Night? and How Does Winter Affect Your Passtimes?

[ForbiddenKatana]

Anybody excited for the 5th of November with all the fireworks and sparkles and whatnot?

It always perplexed me why it's celebrated. The day Guy Fawkes and his band of merry men tried to blow up the king of England with several barrels of gunpowder. I guess we celebrate the happy fact that the plan was not successful.

Anyway if you do celebrate it what are you gonna be up to on the day. We live on a farm and we can see the towns firework display from about 4 miles away.

On another topic what are you awesome people going to be doing as winter closes in?
The cold days are getting closer and what are you gonna be doing to pass the long winter nights. I can't go outside because it's way too cold so that means lots of Mario Party 2 for me.

I know I post a lot of the conversation type threads but I really enjoy talking to the awesome people on this site. Frankly the nicest forum I could ever come across!

 

[Seth]

That's an English holiday, we Americans don't get to celebrate it


We have lame holidays, like Columbus Day.

 

[ForbiddenKatana]

I wondered if Americans celebrated it. Thanks for the heads up

I guess you could call it our alternative to Thanksgiving.

 

[octorok74]

I don't celebrate it, but it sounds neat. Fireworks Day. Sounds similar to our (America's) Fourth of July. As for plans during the winter, I'm hoping my family has a bonfire. We haven't had one in years. I want to make S'mores.

 

[Djinn]

Overwhelming majority of Americans had no idea or had even heard of Guy Fawkes day at all until V for Vendetta came out. Even then there was a lot of questions if it was actually made up for that movie.

I remember an episode of Daria from the mid 90's made a mention about Guy Fawkes day and the joke through the whole episode was that no one knew what that was.

 

[Dan]

ehhh, fireworks just don't entertain me much nowdays. So I can't say I am, I would rather work on my time machine.

 

[Jimmu]

My mum told me that we used to have fireworks night here in Australia (long before I was born), everyone would buy their own and let them off.
Too many people were seriously injured and we no longer do it anymore.

 

[Cfrock]

That's an English holiday, we Americans don't get to celebrate it

For all the British guff about Americans openly celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden, it's worth remembering that we annually celebrate the death of terrorists and have done for over 400 years now, so that was kind of like the pot calling the kettle black.

I guess you could call it our alternative to Thanksgiving.

Interestingly, the annual celebration of the failure of the Gunpowder Plot was brought about by what was generally known as the 'Thanksgiving Act' (its official name was the 'Observance of 5th November Act 1605) as people gave thanks that the King had not been killed.

In Liverpool they generally do a huge display along the waterfront or at Sefton Park so me and some friends will probably go to one of those displays, eat, drink and be merry. I don't think many people really understand the reasons why we celebrate on 5th November but enjoy it nonetheless.
And so few of the children who do 'Penny for the Guy' burn their effigy on the 5th these days. Kids these days, eh?

As for winter in general, staying indoors for me. Soon I will have Hitman: Absolution and plenty of reading for University to keep me occupied and the cold weather and dark nights give me a perfect excuse to stay home

 

[DisappearingMist]

I'd never heard of Fireworks Night until this thread!

As far as winter in general goes, I don't let it stop me from getting outside, regardless of the temperature. I often take walks on the beach at 20F, usually short ones, but I get out there. If you let the cold get to you here, you will be in for a long and lonely winter!