Oh dear god.

Bonfire night in Lewes was certainly an eye opener. The evening kicked off with race involving ladies running down the street dragging barrels of fire. Then the men took their turn, creating an equally ridicluous spectacle. Then the parade began, and the street was filled with burning crosses. Now I'm a lapsed catholic, so fortunately this did not offend my sensibilities .... however it was quite a sight indeed. Lewes is a heavily protestant area, and this bonfire night tradition celebrates the memory of 17 Protestant martyrs who were burnt at the stake in the town during the Marian Persecutions of 1555–1557. In short there was lots of violence and lots of people being killed (mainly by the Catholics), and now every year, the town takes to burning excessive numbers of crosses whilst parading through the streets. Some kind of 16th century group therapy I expect. Truly a bizarre and incredible sight. Quite fun, even.