LEWES PREAMBLE: [SIZE=-1]Remember, remember the 5th of November….. In the Sussex town of Lewes, that poem has a double meaning - it is not just the Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot being recalled. Since 1858, five Lewes bonfire societies have annually remembered an horrific martyrdom during the period 1555–1557, known as the Marian Persecutions. In the reign of Edward VI, Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII, came under pressure to abandon her unshakable Catholic views, but when she came to the throne in 1553, in the process of then re-enforcing them, she had no fewer than 288 Protestants burned for their “heretical” views – 17 of these martyrs were burned in Lewes in tar barrels and they've been commemorating it ever since!
This rather dark and moody overview conceals the fact that it is quite a jolly annual occasion attended by over 100,000 people. There is no public transport on that night, nor many places to park. Accordingly the bulk of the crowd walk (or stagger) the 10 or so miles back to Brighton.
Some of the symbolism on show is highly significant and you will be very familiar with it in the US..
[/SIZE][ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl_6nyAN6H0&list=PLm1Uot4UDyr5rd9eiAFE3wZW4orjNuNEx[/ame]
