Tonight is Guy Fawkes night, also known as Bonfire Night. This was a big deal growing up. Ad Hoc fires in abandoned lots made way for more organized community events. That was a good move looking back. The community fires were safe and organized, music, hot chocolate, marshmallows and weiners. The backyard ones not so much. There was a driven determination late October to collect green boughes to let them go blasty. Old tires and anything that had the words "Do not dispose of or incinerate in fire" would be collected to be disposed of and incinerated in the fire. I can't say it was smart, I'll blame it on the fumes from burning tire rubber. If nothing else it was fun as hell.
Are these traditions disappearing? Mummers and Bonfire night, are they fading into our past as we become more Canadian?