The October ritual season is upon us. Of course we bring old rituals with us from Canada and have adopted new rituals over the last eight years in the UK. If there is one thing that signifies Autumn arriving it’s the flight of geese overhead and the appearance of gourds, pumpkins and little black witches sitting in the weekly market stall.
Our first UK ritual began attending art exhibitions and fairs. Our favourite ‘never miss’ is now the Affordable Art Fair in London. Creativity on tap over tea and croissants. Just a great day out every year.
Hallowe’en in North America as many of you know is a big thing. The UK is just catching on, but we were prepared. Alas, no children, so we were forced (!) to eat the candies ourselves. When it comes to costumes we have not been disappointed, as Lewes Bonfire Night is something really, really big in the UK. It starts mid-day with the town shutting all it’s transportation, boarding up the high street shops and dressing for the evening celebrations and parades.
We had been warned that this is a parade and fireworks like nothing we had ever experienced before. We were told it would be a good idea to take the pups away for the weekend as the canon booms and fireworks shook the houses. But we are The Burnout Queens so we stayed to make it yet another ritual that we were preparing for. A ‘pet remedy’ plugin to chill the dogs (it absolutely worked and seems an understatement given the noise outside), and a magnificent view of the fireworks from our kitchen window.
The parade of pirates, military, Native Indians and Zulus, 80 people deep, carrying flaming sticks and crosses through the street, up through the castle keep and out to the High Street where they were met by Highland Pipers all proceeding down to meet at the War Memorial was a sight to behold. Wreathes and prayers over, the fireworks began and the skies around Lewes were filled with red smoke and what we fondly call the ‘boom, boom, sparkleys so the dogs don’t freak out.
Rituals are what makes our lives here in England interesting. Although we often share our everyday chores, teas and walks, these extra special rituals are icing on the cake (and you know us with cake)!
We hope you have great rituals that give you joy and mark your year in special ways. Of course, the next big ritual is growing close, and you know what that means…ho, ho, ho!
Here’s a proper newspaper picture of Lewes Bonfire Night…and yes…the house shook!
Until next month. Happy boom, boom, sparkleys!
P.S: If you have pictures of rituals that mark your years, we would love to see them. Share them in the comments section of our blog (http://www.theburnoutqueens.com/blog)