Seeking more bang for your hard-earned buck this autumn?  Forget flash-in-the-pan fireworks displays and head instead to the seaside town of Lewes on the south coast.   Dubbed the bonfire capital of the world, the town ignites into a mighty inferno of burning crosses, flaming torches and blazing tar barrels in the famous Lewes Bonfire night celebrations dating back one hundred and sixty years.

Up to eighty thousand visitors regularly swoop down on the sleepy seaside town of Lewes to witness the country’s most dramatic bonfire night.

The celebrations commemorate both Guy Fawkes and the Marian Persecutions which witnessed 288 Protestants burned to the death under the orders of  Queen Mary Tudor. Seventeen of the victims were from Lewes. In their memory, black robes are donned and burning crucifixes brandished in haunting processions.

The crucifixes are just one of thirty separate torch lit processions that are led by the various bonfire societies located in Lewes and surrounding areas.  Each society has their own themed costumes ranging from Red Indians through to Suffragettes.

 

Hot-on-the-heels of the processions, convicts pull blazing chariots of fire through the main streets before one of the tar barrels is ceremonially thrown into the River Ouse to possibly re-enact magistrates being overthrown in 1847 or some believe as a nod to pagan Samhain traditions.

 

The celebrations culminate in the burning of huge effigies on five different bonfire sites located around the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lewes Bonfire Night celebrations take place on Saturday 5 November 2016.
Processions start from 5.00pm until 1.00am.  Trains from Brighton and London get extremely packed so arrive early and leave before the last train home.

Protective eye and ear-wear is recommended due to the constant noise of firecrackers and the inevitable sparks from torches and flaming tar barrels.

What’s your favourite autumn festival?  Share your experiences here.