I am amazed how Halloween decorated homes and shops have taken over Australia. It made me reflect on my childhood days. It wasn’t about Halloween, it was about Guy Fawkes. So what changed?
The history goes back to Great Britain when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot to assassinate King James I, failed on 5 November 1605. To celebrate the King’s survival, people around London lit bonfires and over time this became an official annual public holiday of thanksgiving for the failed plot and the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Act was enforced. Consequently in Australia, this tradition continued as an enjoyable commemoration. Like the majority of other descendants from the UK, every fifth of November, under parental supervision, our family would build a huge bonfire.
We all contributed to the structure and the bigger the better. We had spare land at the back of our house as well as the beach to build a bonfire. We were taught to respect fire, be careful not to stand too close in case the fire started spitting, and not to fool around. We didn’t always do as we were told!
It was magical and firecrackers and sky rockets were a huge hit. We would place the long cane stick of a fire rocket in an empty beer bottle, quickly light the wick, stand back, listen to the hiss and watch the rocket shoot up into the dark atmosphere. It was spectacular. Showers of gold, silver and coloured bursts of shooting stars would light up the sky followed by blooms of coloured sparkled flowers that would linger then fall back to earth as they lost power. It was an exciting time for kids and parents alike as we shared our fun with the local neighbours.
We knew the rules. There were no health and safety laws then, we just had to be careful. Of course, the safety aspect understandably became an issue over time due to several major injuries and some fatal incidents. In hindsight we were lucky.
At one time my big brother dared me to hold a penny banger as a fizzer. The process was to bend the penny banger in half, and partially break it in the middle but not all the way through so it was still connected and the cracker powder was semi-exposed.
You would then hold the two ends of the firecracker in one hand, light a match, and then place the flame in the middle of the cracker where the break was made. You had to hold the cracker facing away from you to avoid the firing sparks hitting your face. Some of the kids would chase each other with the fizzer. It was fun to do at the time.
However, there was one time my fizzer fired backward. I think my big brother dared me to do it as it was a rather large firecracker. Consequently, I had a nasty burn on one of my fingers on my right hand. It was excruciating. I didn’t go to the doctor, you didn’t in those days as it was perceived to be ‘just a burn’. Can you believe, butter was used then, we now know, that it fuelled the burn and the pain. It took ages for my finger to heal. Thankfully we have learned our ways.
My children may not remember much about Guy Fawkes as they grew up in the Melbourne suburbs where fires were controlled and bonfires were not permitted. Firecrackers were legal then. We would buy them at local shops and have fun. No injuries, luckily.
On October 31, Halloween was something that Americans did and it wasn’t popular here at the time. It’s not what Australians did. However times change and I have discovered that Halloween was first celebrated in Castlemaine, Victoria in October 1858.
With its origins in Scotland and Ireland thousands of years ago it was called the festival of Samhuinn marking summer’s end. When the Scots emigrated to America during the Highland Clearances they took their Halloween traditions with them. The Scots arrived in Australia with the First Fleet and during the Australian gold rush there is evidence in the local newspapers the Scots held Halloween Balls.
In the 1970s Halloween started to become popular and in 1986 in Victoria, Guy Fawkes effectively died when the state government outlawed all fireworks sales. Other states followed. It was only a matter of time before Halloween commercialism took over.
Nonetheless, I feel sad that my grandchildren may never know, understand or experience the fun of celebrating Australia’s Guy Fawkes tradition.