Fired Up
BUTLER TWP Though July 4th has long passed, fireworks in last Saturday's sky marked a patriotic celebration.
A bonfire also was held in honor of Guy Fawkes Day, widely observed in England.
“They celebrate the successful thwarting of the blowing up of the House of Parliament,” said Victoria Nicholas, who hosts the annual bash with her husband, Hap, and their sons.
In keeping with the tradition of Victoria's native country, the family burns an effigy of Guy Fawkes, a conspirator in the failed Gunpowder plot of 1605. The plot was hatched to assassinate King James I and replace him with a Catholic monarch.
Also called Bonfire Night, the event usually occurs around Nov. 5, when friends and family share food and festivities near the roaring fires.
Victoria recalls many Guy Fawkes celebrations from her childhood in the county of Yorkshire, where days in advance children would begin dragging limbs from the nearby woods and begging on street corners for fireworks money with the oft-repeated cry, “A penny for the Guy?”
The potluck bonfire in England might include hot soups, baked potatoes and butter, a special, homemade toffee, and parkin a cake made with oats and a regional sweetener called golden syrup, Victoria said.
Sparing no effort, Victoria spends many hours in advance preparing her trademark beef stew. And wood for the Nicholas' bonfire is stacked and prepped ahead of time with leaves, limbs and logs heaped in a mound nearly 5 feet high.
The effigy, stuffed with hay and wearing a villainous mask, sat stately atop the heap. On Saturday, it was admired by about 200 party guests, some who hailed from distant locales.
“We've had people here from England, Argentina, Costa Rica and France,” Victoria explained, noting her son, Ethan, had collected an international network of friends as a language major in college.
Confirming the multicultural tone, a bagpiper dressed in traditional garb was on site Saturday, playing “Scotland the Brave” and other tunes.
Before Hap set the fire with help from a can of gas, Victoria offered a brief recap of how and why the event came to be.Those familiar with the story joined to recite the traditional verse, “Remember, remember the 5th of November; the gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.”Seconds after the match was struck, flames erupted with a boom.“You definitely have to stand in the back,” said Cheryll Cranmer of Penn Township, recalling singed eyebrows from past guests who crowded too close to the fire pit.“Novices stand up front, professionals in the back,” noted her husband, Ted.Guy Fawkes veterans, the Cranmers began attending the event about 16 years ago. The same holds true for Jon and Maryann Coulter of Pittsburgh, who measure their longevity through the age of their adult sons just boys at the party's onset.Ethan Nicholas, 29, the eldest of three brothers, has begun to organize the event and a growing percentage of guests appeared to be in his age group.“It's been a unique cycle to see,” Cheryll Cranmer said, explaining the early years reflected Hap and Victoria's friends.“Now you see a lot of the kids' friends,” she added.Kelly McElfresh, 27, of Butler was among that group. A friend of Ethan and his 27-year-old brother, Adam, McElfresh was attending for the second year. Butler resident Christine Bellis, 33, attended as her guest.Although some party guests were familiar with the Guy Fawkes concept through its connection to the movie “V for Vendetta,” which features a protagonist conspirator who wears a Guy Fawkes mask, many first-timers like Bellis were unfamiliar with the story.“It was totally new to me,” said Bellis, standing near the roaring fire.“It's like a history lesson,” but a good time.”
