Bonfires in Autumn have been around for centuries, but 5th November has an extra special meaning for those in Britain. Guy Fawkes Night is seen as one groups attempt to blow up Parliament and so restore power to the King. I always wondered when people celebrated it, were they celebrating the prevention of such an action or that someone went ahead and tried it anyway.
It's weird that its also named after the person who was caught in the act who happened to be a Spanish mercenary. He wasn't really in it for the ideals but the money. And still he gets lauded as some kind of anti-establishment figure. Amusing since Spain and England were not exactly friendly at that point. His likeness is now copied by a multitude of people thanks to "V for Vendetta", but I wonder how many of them know the backstory.
Regardless, its still a great excuse to go out and watch the fireworks go off. If you get a really good view, you can see several displays go off at once, filling the sky briefly with shards of light. It brightens up what is otherwise a dull time.