Fire festival in Battle

All of November has an excuse in one town or another to have bonfires and fireworks in the UK. Dating further back than pagan roots, the fire festivals are  a plea to the gods to ease the chill and harshness of winter, spare the people from starving or freezing to death and to bring spring quickly. In some places a criminal was placed in a wicker cage and thrown onto a huge bonfire as a sacrifice. I'm sure this practice stayed for a long time, but it was replaced by a figure.

November also celebrates the only man who entered Parliament with honest intentions. Guy Fawkes was from York, but secured his explosives from a company in Battle, Sussex. In 1605 on November the 5th, he was betrayed and handed over to the authorities. Poor old Guy is now the figure who is paraded up and down the main street and then thrown on top of the bonfire.

This month also recognises the burning of the Sussex protestants in the mid 1500s. After Henry the 8th died, Bloody Mary took the throne and went about making the country Catholic again, persecuting the protestants. A number of them were burnt at stakes for reading the bible in English - not the proper latin. ( apparently that was enough to say you were a heretic)

In all a pretty awful festival of bloodshed and murder.  The Battle festival was absolutely haunting, brilliant, loud and boomed with energy.  I found the parading of the damned ( witches and Guy) chilling. Dummies stood with hands tied in front of them and were pulled along in a cart as the crowd cheered and booed them.  The parade went up and down the main street three times and ended in front of the Battle Abbey where a huge bonfire had been built.

People in the parade carried huge burning torches and many dragged drums of burning pitch. Fireworks and loud drums were thumped and banged. I had wondered why many children were wearing huge ear protectors , but as the night wore on, I wished I had them as well.

There were thousands and thousands of people pressing along the street. I took videos and loaded them onto instagram, but will follow this with photos. I hope it does justice to the incredible atmosphere we were involved with.

The people in the parade were dressed in their society uniform.  Some were pirates, others zombies, knights, chimney sweeps and other generally scary beings. Everyone walked with such purpose - to burn the witches, the protestants and to punish Guy.

The 'proper' street vendors were there - toasted marshmallows, roasted chestnuts and dodgy burgers.  We also weakened and went and got arm fulls of hot chips.. so good.

We pushed our way toward the Abbey and got glimpses of the bonfire going up.  We had a local with us, who guided us to a back alley where a timber yard was. We got to lay one a huge stack of timber and look up into the sky as the fireworks were let off. It felt like it was just us and the fireworks. It probably was the best display I've every seen.

In all, the people of Battle put on a brilliant parade and if the gods of winter were listening, they will send a mild one; which to be honest is a bit of a shame, as we came last year for the snow ( which didn't come) and we are desperate to see some this year....

Slindon Pumpkin Festival

For over 20 years, The Slindon Pumpkin Festival  has drawn people from all round the counties. The Upton family decided that their meagre pumpkins needed to be dressed up and marketed differently, so Mr Upton came up with the idea to use the vegetables to create pictures and displays.

Every year the family design and work hard at using the various coloured gourds and pumpkins to create a picture. The displays started out being on he roof of one of the barns, but soon a special display stand was made to house it.

Cleverly, they have a market stall to sell their pumpkins and all things related to pumpkins. 

This year the theme looks at the Battle of Britain.

Previously the display has depicted scenes from Star Wars, Venice and Cinderella.

Located on Top Road in the beautiful National Trust village of Slindon, other homes have also cashed in on the pumpkin festival offering pumpkin related goods to visitors.

We bought bought pumpkins to carve for halloween.

The local church hall offers a good range of refreshments and there is a nearby community-owned shop and café, Slindon Forge on Reynolds Lane.

We visited the local potter too, busy making pumpkin related things. We to sucked into buying some miniature pumpkins and some christmas tree decorations.   I don't actually mind buying locally made crafts. They always bring great memories of travel. 

Downe House.. Charles Darwins home

We haven't done alot in science lately, so when I discovered that Charles Darwin's house was only 'up the road' from our latest housesitting job, it went straight to the top of must sees.

The top of the family home is set up as a museum and learning centre, tracing Darwins life and discoveries.  Its a shame we as a society remembers him as a crusty old man. By all accounts, he was an extremely hospitable, jovial man, who loved a good laugh and ( unusually for Victorian times) was a loving , demonstrative father. 

Some of the things I liked to see pointed out was that he was an undistinguished scholar, despite that, his curiosity and love of collecting and classifying things, drove him to go exploring for five years around the world. 

He was fascinated by the hummingbird - and has dozens and dozens of them ( stuffed) in glass cases.

I also didn't realise that he kept his book "Origin of the Species" back 20 years before publishing it. He knew it would cause such a stir, that he may be burnt as a witch and heretic.  An incredible fact is that the book has never been out of print.. far out.

The garden is neatly kept, but nothing out of the ordinary. The house is understated and comfortable. His rooms were kept as they were when he was alive - and really looks like he has popped out for a moment.

I hope the kids got some valuable information as we explored the hands on activities. There were alot of missing bits of information which were tied up as I wandered around, so I'm glad I took the time to explore and read the displays.