FORGOTTEN OLD ENGLAND GUY FAWKES BONFIRE NIGHT TRADITIONS 🔥🎆

[@Cornz38]

When i was a kid (70's) we used to hollow out a turnip and lit it with a candle. Pumpkins were unheard of.

[@WOLFIE-96B-UK]

Growing up on the '50s and 60's, Halloween and turnip lanterns were just a warm up for Guy Fawkes Night, although we kept our lanterns for weeks! Nowadays it's all pumpkins and trick or treat imported from America. The old photos took me back to a simpler time. Great video!

[@annetteegerton6153]

I'm a Yorkshire woman and this well researched lecture is exactly right.. for Yorkshire folk as well. Thank you

[@goinblinddoggone]

We had amazing bonfire nights in the 70s. Dad built the bonfire and organised the fireworks (jumping jacks, Catherine wheels, bangers, fountain things, sparklers for us kids to hold and write in the air with). Mam made countless hotdogs, toffee apples, jacket potatoes and served them out the kitchen window that looked out on the garden. We made a guy from old clothes and stuffed him with newspapers, put him on a homemade bogey cart and did 'penny for the guy'. Halloween and the turnip carving was all part of the lead up to bonfire night. We used to take turns to scrape at the turnip flesh with a spoon, hours of labour 😂 great fun and always had an air of sinister with the short days and long dark nights. The frisson of fear made it all the more exciting.

[@lindseyfraser4408]

Loved the smell as a kid . So much better than pumpkins.

[@VMM34]

Yes! I carved a turnip lantern this Halloween and the smell took me back to the 1960s when I was a kid. That smell is one of my favourites in life! The lantern is still sitting here, I don't want to throw it out!

[@ronventy798]

Has it not gone off pal amazing.

[@VMM34]

@ronventy798 It hasn't gone off yet, it's sort of dried up. I think it's time to say goodbye to it now. Oh well, there's always next year to look forward to!

[@Poppins-ut3bs]

Yes, I remember making a turnip lantern-it's hard work! 😂 x

[@northeastnostalgic5071]

They really are! It's a good job they're so small!😅

[@Paggerd]

This took me back. Can almost sense the particular smell in the air on “bommy neet”, thanks for posting.

[@jerrygregor]

I'm from south east Scotland and it was always turnip lanterns. I'd never seen a pumpkin until I went to the States in 1988. My guising days were in the late 60s and I wore the kilt handed down from my 2 brothers. I was a Scottish soldier and we sang the Michael Finnegan song on the doorsteps. It was usually pennies and ha'pennies we were given but the occasional thrupenny bit made us feel rich. No trick or treat, we earned our prize!

[@hiramabiff2017]

" Bangers "... I miss them above all. Having the responsibility as a child with explosives in your hands learnt you to respect them or lose a finger. A close second was doing " Penny for the Guy " outside the busy pub near where we lived. It would earn you your firework money tens x over. I can't remember ever doing Halloween years ago, it was more of a American thing.

[@nilsalmquist9424]

I can still remember the smell of the candle burning the turnip.

[@lornaburgess9762]

Lovely 😋

[@tonypaddler]

I absolutely loved that smell, and when the sad time came that I would have to throw away the narkie, I loved eating the burnt flesh 😁

[@petalguru5432]

Whenever I make a stew with a swede the smell always takes me back to the 1960’s halloween time. Happy days 😊

[@davt8615]

Class mate, aye a remember using the old Turnip in the early 90,s 👍 took about 2 hours to carve and ya lost a couple of fingers 🤣 but man they were mint times ❤

[@carolarmer1204]

Bending half me mam's spoons just to hollow it out ! 😊happy days

[@davt8615]

@carolarmer1204 good times eh ❤️

[@BenStevenson-c4z]

The Good Old Days ❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🎆🎇🔥

[@SurvivorofHorror]

Carving a turnip was no joke. We did this for Halloween and had massive fires for bonfire night. The memories of how people came together from all over the estate are my fondest.

[@tinplategeektoo]

Remember turnip carving, building bonfires and penny for the guy in the 60's/70's in Sunderland. Seemed to die out by the mid to late 70's when organised bonfires and firework displays took over. Used to go to the organised bonfire on what later became the Charlie Hurley football training ground in Whitburn.

[@northeastnostalgic5071]

Thank you so much for your comment! It's interesting how times have changed ☺️

[@mickymondo7463]

Bangers in Cowpats were always a favourite, as kids we used to get the biggest rocket we could and break the stick off it, then standing around the walls of a room in the derelict railway station, the rocket would be lit and chucked in the middle, without a stick it would bounce around all over the place and the last one to move was the winner, having a paper round was great as it gave premium access to the newly arrived stock of fireworks in the Newsagents, though you'd get a cuff round the ear from the old fella sorting the papers if you were caught letting bangers off out the back at 0700hrs.

[@claw1770]

wow!! great memories. Thanks again for the video

[@lornaburgess9762]

My Mam used the inside of the turnip to put into homemade soup with dumplings. We used to put tetties on the bonfire and dig them out when the embers went down bliddy lovely.

[@lyndaa7560]

Born in 1950 in North Manchester so I remember fantastic bonfire nights throughout the 50/60’s, fireworks, toffee apples, treacle toffee, potato pie, soup & dry bread, Parkin, red cabbage, cinder toffee & charcoal baked potatoes, out of the bonny, we always did penny for the guy & made quite a few bob. Also logging for wood, building the bonfire, making the big guy, some back gates went missing as well but we had a brilliant time during the run up & on Guy Fawkes night itself. We carried on the bonfire night tradition’s well into the late 80’s for our daughter & her friends with everything we’d enjoyed as children but with the bonfire in our garden. Halloween wasn’t a big thing back then but we did look in mirrors at midnight whilst holding a candle so you’d see who you’d marry😁😁before frightening ourselves too death & we did apple bobbing as well. I always did a swede lantern with a candle for Halloween for our daughter & used the inside scrapings out in soup, we had no spare money in the 70’s so everything was used, I make pumpkin soup now xx really enjoyed the video xx

[@MrHandle70]

My parents were Scottish and my father always used to hollow a neep for Halloween back in the 50s and 60s. I remember I was so fascinated by it I used to keep it until it was a shriveled up stinking mess. Bonny night was great coming so soon after Halloween. My father also put tatties in the embers. My mother used to tell me the charcoal on the skins was good for my teeth. And please do not get me started on Hogmanay and First Footing😅😅

[@mindless-pedant]

I spent six years in Newcastle (90-96). I have really very, very happy memories of the place. One of those favourite memories was walking home one Bonfire night through Benwell in the West End, after dark. I was accosted by three scruffy young kids on the pavement - two boys and a girl, not an adult anywhere to be seen - propping up a bag of rags. “Poond for the guy” one of the lads shouted. “Sorry, I’m skint mate” I replied. “Ah OK…tab for the guy then?”. Obviously I didn’t hand over a tab. I got a stream of foul mouthed but good-natured abuse as I went on my way. Yes. I understand that unaccompanied young children hanging about on street corners, on a cold November evening, scrounging cigarettes and money, is not necessarily a good thing…..but…..we in the British Isles have lost so much of what used to make us us, largely due to the cultural tidal wave that’s been washing up on our shores from across the Atlantic since the ascent of the internet. Such a pity.

[@nigelh3253]

Some great old photos used in this video, so thanks for that. The huge bonfires of years ago seem to have largely gone. Yes, people do have bonfires, but organised fireworks are now very popular - i went to one last night. Times change, and you capture lost days very well in all your videos. Thanks.

[@northeastnostalgic5071]

I love seeing how times change, it seems people are more into Halloween than Bonfire Night nowadays. There were lots of firework displays last night, they're always so nice to see! ☺️

[@Yandarval]

@@northeastnostalgic5071 More to do with the importation of the US commercialisation of Halloween. Traditionally, Bonfire Night was more important and impressive than Halloween. Bonfires used to be everywhere, along with "Penny for the Guy" being very common when I was a child in the 70s and early 80s.

[@Andrew-e4m]

Remember doing Penny for the Guy outside the Pubs back then.The shop would sell you the coloured matches but not the Fireworks.Can you still get the Jumping Jacks.Bangers in the handle bars ,rockets in milk bottles.Brilliant days.

[@annalieff-saxby568]

I went "old school" this Samhain and carved Turnip Lanterns, which turned out wonderfully macabre looking. That's a tradition I'll be keeping up!

[@carolarmer1204]

Mischeavous night was another fun night .

[@lilac9639]

I'll never forget what hard work turnips were. We had stick candles that blew out all the time. So you never wandered far. Fire works stood in a baking tin, rockets in a milk bottle! and Catherine wheels nailed to the back door gate that always spun off onto the ground lol

[@brunswicklord6365]

My recollections are from living in the Bradford area in the late 60s to early seventies, I was 10 years old in 1969. We did celebrate Halloween with a carved turnip. And we would walk the streets with our turnip heads on a piece of string, lit up with a slim birthday candle. We would have a small handful of bangers, I remember one called the 3,2,1 zero which were thrown around the streets. When we were bored with the heads they were usually filled with a banger or two and exploded. The turnip heads always had a distinct smell from being " cooked" by the candles. As "plot night ' approached the fireworks became more abundant and we let off anything that banged or cracked such as jumping Jacks, air bombs and a flying banger which had a basic wing with RAF markings printed on it. When lit on the floor or a wall they would start to spin and literally fly off in any uncontrolled direction. A "guy" was usually made and we would start to collect wood, we would call it "chumping" and build bonfires on any spare land. In those days there seemed to be lots of spare land in and around the terrace streets. Rough land full of dumped bricks, bikes, mattresses. One other thing nobody took dogs for a walk, they were let out to walk themselves and our little gangs always had an adopted pet that would follow us about. I fondly remember Freddy and Tiger. Looking back they were poor animals that were neglected. Thankfully we had enough sense to take them home to their owners before the fireworks started to be "played with". We often made "genies" from fireworks. Basically we emptied a firework onto the floor and threw a match at the powder and up it went ! The 4th of November was called mischief night. My parents usually would not let me out that night but on the rare occasion I got out it would be an evening of throwing bangers and knocking on doors and running off. We never ever vandalised anything but bangers would be thrown into the concrete stairwells of the local council maisonettes. Plot night came and we lit our fires. We stood around for hours just watching it burn. Some of us were lucky enough to have a box of Standard Fireworks. When we got home we would have a baked spud with margarine for our supper. The day after, in the smog, on the way to school we would congregate around the hot embers of the previous nights fires and try and rekindle the ashes. Happy memories of days gone.

[@FakeAnimalRescuesExposed-x5o]

I remember all of that so well, including guarding the 'bonty' and going to each others houses to peer into the old tin to see what fireworks other kids' parents had bought! And no tons of plastic crap in the shops (supermarkets still very new ) not least because, despite the cries of poverty today, people wouldn't have been able to afford to buy throw away plastic crap. I am SO glad I grew up back then even though, or especially because, there were no play stations, mobile phones, computers ipods etc, we interacted with each other and made things from the 'bonty' of Guy Fawkes, to model aeroplanes etc or 'gonks'. Better than just pressing buttons

[@angelfyr762]

Thank you. What a charming video.

[@carolarmer1204]

Its funny (or sad!) that we deprive the kids of learning responsibility as regards to handling potentially dangerous objects such fireworks , we deprive them of the fun and experiences that we all take for granted all in the name of saftey but the same safety obsessed organisations are more than happy to feed our children behaviour alltering sedatives , hormone tablets and talk them into having life changing operations . The world today is insane .

[@yvonneclarkson5500]

Not sure we were responsible years ago. Kids used to buy fireworks, light them and throw them at each other! I once had one thrown at me, luckily the fuse went out.

[@MrGazo66]

Brilliant times that will never be forgotten, take me back to the 70s and leave me there 🙂

[@yvonneclarkson5500]

Lovely memories, thank you! I grew up in Yorkshire in the 70s. We had turnip lanterns, penny for the guy, bonfires and fireworks. Never heard of guising but we did have mischievous night on 4th November when we pinched wood/ set fire to bonfires, knocked on doors and ran away ( Bobby knocking) etc. We also ate parkin, bonfire toffee and jacket potatoes.

[@Dusty357]

Narkey and a also called them a SNADGIE , at whitburn we used to go up Kenny turners turnip field and and like little army men we would drop on ower bellies and slither up the rows looking for a geet big Narkey lol , then spend hours n hours carving this fecking geet big snadgie oot 😂😂 a can still feel the hand cramps now ..... but that smell man of candles n turnips ahhhh can still smell it absolutely lush smell . Happy memories man

[@lornaburgess9762]

Snannys in Northumberland we used to raid the farmers field 🤣

[@Mr.1.i]

Bonfire nights in the 80s was like a battle going on in the background

[@rayfraser7079]

The guy was dress up in old clothes put in a big pram orwheel barrow then we would go run the doors ask a penny for the guy we would use the money for fire works in Glasgow

[@scouseofhorror104]

North West here! I do miss the turnip lanterns, but I don't miss the blisters! 😩😅

[@missmuffet3874]

The blisters were terrible. 😢😢 I’m from NW England too.

[@scouseofhorror104]

@missmuffet3874 And I swear you'd smell of turnip for days after! 😩🤣

[@missmuffet3874]

@ yeah I think you’re right. Nice times though xx

[@WildwoodTV]

Lovely video thank you 👍👍We'd dig a mangelwurzel from the field - really hard to carve too and the candle kept going out, but the main event was Guy Fawkes' night. I think I was the 'guy' in a wheelbarrow - worried my brothers would throw me on the fire! Dad would get us raking up leaves for burning. Jumping jacks were the scariest things - never knew which direction they'd go. Then it was all organised displays - hardly even allowed a sparkler...

[@johnmoore9862]

Penny for the Guy………..that brings back memories.

[@Poliss95]

I still make lanterns carved from turnips. I posted a video of my latest creations on my channel. 😁 My first attempt having failed miserably, (because turnips seem much harder these days), I looked for some tips. Found a great one. If you steam them for 10 or 15 minutes, depending on size, they're much easier to carve. I see you could have done with that tip before you started carving. 😂😂 Did you know that if you carve words onto the surface of a turnip the light from the candle shines through? Penny for the Guy was how we got money for fireworks. We used an old pushchair to push the Guy around in. Pushchair's have been replaced with buggies these days. My brother and sister dressed me up as a Guy once when I was about 5yo. We never made a single penny!! I remember a bonfire at the back of the flats in Tebay Drive Newcastle that was ENORMOUS!! Like the one at 6:17. You couldn't get within 30 feet of it without getting scorched. Ahh, the fireworks. Lots of 'Is that it?' after they fizzed and sizzled for about 5 seconds, or the Catherine Wheels that got stuck after the first revolution. I remember the potatoes well. Burned black on the outside and raw in the middle, if you could find them again that is. Even the advent of kitchen foil didn't make a difference. Toffee apples on strings was another thing we had. Also treacle toffee.

[@BenStevenson-c4z]

Their is Nothing Like the Smell 🧡👃 of the Candle Burning The Turnip Jack O Lantern 🎃🍁🍂

[@andyallom4357]

As others have said, Halloween was the start of the countdown to Bona Neet. But we did carve the turnip and also did dookie apple, bobbing for apples in a bowl of water - drowning the witches. Nearest we'd come to trick or treat, was a game of knockie nine door, or turning a garden gate upside down. Wor bonas were on the old corn fields that were up from Pelaw station - railway, not Metro. Remember the beautiful flower beds with PELAW spelled out in pebbles? (Not you lass. Us old gadgies)

[@lightningspirit2166]

Yes it was a turnip but s pumpkin was a luxury also ,I remember in the 60s ,fireworks such as bangers ,were very common,and papier niche guy fawks masks😮

[@bluelady4183]

Bring back the days!!!!😂😂😂

[@RossBirch-c4e]

A wood carving gouge is probably perfect for turnips. I imagine a lot of people had them back then too. I actually remember doing a turnip as a kid and it was horse work

[@Zoewhiteart7676]

Yeah as kids we carved turnips, remember it well. 😊

[@sutty85]

We used to have a bonfire in the street. All would come and we'd eat parkin cake and bonfire treacle. We always threw a guy Fawkes on the fire unfortunately all we have now in Americanisms.

[@malcolmmather4353]

I’m from South Shields and this is what I remember of Halloween, not as important as Guy Fawkes night. When I try to tell my family about the turnip lanterns, they find it hard to believe.

[@geordienufc3132]

Can't remember how many times I cut my fingers trying to use a sharp knife to carve out my turnip faster.

[@ianjohnboy]

my sisters and i used walk from witherwack over to scarface the farmers over at boldon to nick his turnips lol,we come back stop at the old air raid shelter thingy to carve them ,used to knack ya hands n fingers

[@carolynhague7199]

Exactly right

[@sillysausage2244]

We used sugar beet for lanterns - they were hard work, but the smell of the caramelising flesh was good...

[@Nick-zp3ub]

I remember turnip lanterns when i was a kid. The first time we had a pumpkin was 1994

[@ElizabethAnneChurnside]

It was hard work ,carving out those turnips ,our dad would have seven to carve out ,but he did it gladly ,and put halve a candle inside ,,❤😅😊

[@paulferri3441]

The way it should be,used to enjoy carving out my turnip even if the the end result was bit of a disaster 😂

[@jeepsthetimebandit]

I'm from Manchester. I used to love going around the streets asking people if they had any spare wood for the bonfire. I've always wondered as an adult how we got so much wood. Why did everyone always have loads of it spare in those days?? 😂

[@Hughenn]

The early 70s for me. I built quite a few Guys. Great times.

[@timelordvictorious]

It’s interesting turnips we’re carved in the north east I presume because we were close to the boarder of Scotland that these traditions came from .

[@Yandarval]

More to do with turnips been plentiful and traditional. Pumpkins are a late 80s import and were damn expensive.

[@Bella-fz9fy]

No,there's literature talking about young boys carving turnips and putting them on sticks and causing mischief in 1845 in villages in Southern England too.

[@twistedsister2568]

We used to sit around the bonfire on logs and chucked potatoes wrapped in tinfoil into the edge of the fire for jacket spuds. Pie and peas, hot dogs and burgers. Candy floss and toffee apples. Good times they were and no one got burned because we weren’t snowflakes.

[@redbeki]

Growing up in the midlands, in the 70s , Halloween wasn't really a thing. Bonfire night was the big night . The fires were big and penny for the guy was too . Hot dog and toffee apples were eaten

[@matthewslack1509]

The best times ever🔥🔥🔥🔥💥💥💥💥🎇🎆🎇🎆

[@karnak50]

Three hours later on that turnip

[@ElizabethAnneChurnside]

Aww memories ❤😂

[@beateljuice1]

I remember a kid getting burned alive when he was on guard duty actually inside the bonfire they'd made a den inside thinking they where being clever he'd fell asleep they reckon when the rivals turned up, Happy Time's but a sad occasion that day.

[@fireworkdisplaysuk]

In Lancashire we went ‘Cob Coaling’ in the week leading up to Bonfire Night (Knocking on peoples doors and singing for loose change to buy fireworks) We come a Cob-coaling for Bonfire time, Your coal and your money we hope to enjoy. Fal-a-dee, fal-a-die, fal-a-diddly-i-do-day. For down in yon’ cellar there’s an owd umberella And up on yon’ corner there’s an owd pepperpot. Pepperpot! Pepperpot! Morning ’till night. If you give us nowt, we’ll steal nowt and bid you good night.

[@missmuffet3874]

The turnips were so hard to carve. Does anyone remember doing the Apple Bobbing? 🍏🍎🍏🍎

[@teejay5627]

The turnip at 1.00 was the creepiest i've ever seen!

[@lornaburgess9762]

You can mek some lovely food with the inside of a turnip ,dont think a would like pumpkin.

[@peterrear2864]

Bonfire night was bonty neet in shields

[@kellyhawkes3191]

I used eat all the raw veg and be weeing all night. 😁

[@adelia988]

We made a guy but my mum wouldn’t let us ask for money

[@robinwilby3121]

Hello Nothing about mischief night

[@philipdear224]

Problem is these old traditions have been under constant attack from the do gooder pro nanny state brigade Its so sanitised today Public displays cost a fortune and are rather boring Councils send special squads to remove bonfires A couple of kids in my area set off a few fireworks in a local field one October the Response armed Yes armeg police with dogs gturned up en mass Its no wonder that their is a pandemic of mental illness and even suicide among our kids today even games like conkers is fround on Kids were so much happier in those days and had a life not a virtual electronic nightmare fantisy world which is the only place they can retreat to today

[@ttblade]

Anyone else admitting to throwing bangers and 'Jumping Jacks'. Be honest!. It was hilarious watching people with shopping bags jumping around with a Jumping Jack at their feet. "Penny for the Guy" = money for more bangers. Health and safety consisted of running away and not being recognised so you didn't get a 'good hiding' when you got home.

[@Tidybitz]

@ttblade ... Yes, really hilarious watching somebody jumping around trying not to get burnt to f*** ... Not. What a tosser you used to be by the sound of it.

[@peterrear2864]

Sorry to burst your bubbles but they are not turnips they are swedes,brought up on tyneside we used to call them snadgies

[@karenpearson5476]

They’re swedes not turnips, turnips are cream coloured and are much, much smaller, you’d be hard pushed to try and carve a turnip…

[@franrowe8696]

They are 'swedes' but have always been known as turnips where I grew up. I'm going back 3 generations so perhaps its just a local thing?

[@JustDaniel6764]

Same thing aren't they just swedes are left to grown longer, Like a cucumber and a marrow I thought

[@Tidybitz]

​@@JustDaniel6764 .. no, they aren't the same or like cucumbers.

[@JustDaniel6764]

@@Tidybitz left too grow cucumbers become marrow

[@Wotsitorlabart]

​@@franrowe8696 1950's Yorkshire - 'turnips'.

[@BlindingSun_]

That’s a swede mate. Turnips are white

[@brunswicklord6365]

I agree but everyone called them turnips

[@KevLloyd-p1u]

Have you never heard of a country called Wales? Geography not your stong point?.. there are many ways to carve out a Turnip, you chose the most laborious 😂

[@northeastnostalgic5071]

I have indeed heard of Wales! This video was focused on the North East of England where my channel is focused on ☺️ I'd love to make a video specifically on the whole of the UK's traditions for Halloween and Bonfire Night one day, I just did what I could with the time I had!

[@Lee-kf9tq]

​@@northeastnostalgic5071 you mentioned England Scotland and Ireland and just left out Wales.

[@cd3949]

​@Lee-kf9tq You Welsh are never happy. When you do get mentioned alongside England, Ireland and Scotland you complain about "being lumped in".😅

[@bagpuss8960]

Six years old and armed to the teeth with incinderie devices.