Bonfire Night

Its So Easy

Well seeing as today/tonight is bonfire night. And I didn't see any threads about it, anyone have any memories about bonna night from years gone past ?

all_smilz

Its So Easy wrote: »

Well seeing as today/tonight is bonfire night. And I didn't see any threads about it, anyone have any memories about bonna night from years gone past ?

i remember there being rubbish and burnt up green areas, remnants of old furniture and household appliance littered everywhere and the sickly sweet stench of petrol and piss.

Its a bloody disgrace... what does it happen for anyway? people could at least clean up their communities afterwards.

artfreak

Theres a bonfire night in Glenville every year. Have great memories of it as a smallie. It was a great night out with street music and lots to entertain and it was well regulated.

DannyBuoy

There used be ones at the junction of Friars Road/Congress Road, and Fr Matthew Road/Congress Road, did leave a mess but was good crack at the time.
Thats a few years ago now..

run_Forrest_run

all_smilz wrote: »

i remember there being rubbish and burnt up green areas, remnants of old furniture and household appliance littered everywhere and the sickly sweet stench of petrol and piss.

Its a bloody disgrace... what does it happen for anyway? people could at least clean up their communities afterwards.

totally agree, in Passage last night you'd swear the estate I lived in was a close knit community with everyone coming together to help build the bonfire...eh, no, wait, they were just clearing out their rubbish to dump onto the bonfire and then head back into their houses.

The bonfire was nothing short of a scobe fest. Even though the little scuts around the place didn't have any patience so they set a tree in the green alight on Monday evening.

Last night after hours of black smoke spewed into the night sky the fire brigade eventually turned up while the loud cheer (or is that jeer) went up from the little sh*ts around the place, they are only happy when draining the state of such services.

Once again the green is left in a smoldering mess this morning with glass bottles smashed all around the footpaths etc. as we bring our kids to school/creche.

Bill-e

I remember being at one years ago out on the little beach behind currabiny woods. It was massive and we all sat around it for ages in nice warmth.

The very next day the tide took away the left over ash and everyone was happy. The only thing is tho, the nuclear factory mosquitoes bit my legs about 50 times and I swelled up like a marshmallow.

Still good clean fun.

TheChief36

I seem to remember the fifth of November being Bonfire Night.

Ludo

Ya know, I always thought it was some time around then also when I was young. I only realised a couple of years ago when I moved back to Cork that it is mid-summer. I remember it being dark when we used to light ours but I guess the memory plays tricks on us.

shell42970

I'm in agreement with all_smilz and run_Forest_run with regards to bonfire night.

The idiots who clear out their household rubbish and/or set everything alight that they can get their hands on don't stop to think for a moment about what's being released into the atmosphere when their trash is burned. We had to close all the windows in the house for the night so that the baby wouldn't be breathing in the noxious air.

I was embarrassed and ashamed to be associated with my neighborhood the night of, and certainly the morning after, the bonfires. The blight in the fields Wednesday morning took me back to the 18 miserable months that I lived in inner-city Detroit. I certainly expected more from Ireland and was shocked and saddened at what I saw.

I'm left to wonder how long it will take the Council to clean everything up, since the parties involved with the destruction clearly have no intention of doing it themselves. It's worse than a dog soiling its own porch.

Ludo

Out of curiosity...are any of the people who seem to think bonfire night is a blight on society from Cork originally?

Of people I have talked to in person, it is only the "blow-ins" who think the whole thing is a disgrace. Most people who are from Cork like the idea and have fond memories of it but agree that, like most other things in our society, it is taken too far these days and used as an excuse for anti-social behaviour whic is a great pity.

parsi

I'm a blowin and where I grew up Bonfire Night was at Halloween.

I don't have a particular problem with Bonfire night. I suppose that's easy to say because the nearest one to me was about a mile away.

The City Council had an organised bonfire down in Mahon with games and activities (and the odd flame) which seems a good idea.

I do have problems with the trouble that seems to accompany some of these - I believe that there was a near-riot down in Douglas at one fire.

Fires go back to our atavistic roots and kids get a fierce kick out of them. The important thing is that they don't descend into chaos and I suppose that depends on the relevant community.

Bloody Nipples

I'm Cork born and bred and it's crap, utter crap. No one even knows what it's for apart from it's held on St. John's Day. When I was young fella, it was a real community event with a BBQ and everyone would cook stuff and bring it out to share around, but now it's just a bunch of knackers and unsupervised kids.

run_Forrest_run

I'm not from Cork and it was halloween when we had bonfires and I believe they are dumb and needless then too.
Ludo, perhaps you are feeling nostalgic pangs when you think of the bonfires of your youth but I doubt you were even out at one this year (correct me if I'm wrong).
But the carry on I saw the other night in my estate was sad and pathetic. Little tramps using it as an excuse for more anti-social behaviour while their feckless parents turn a blind eye.

artfreak

Bloody Nipples wrote: »

I'm Cork born and bred and it's crap, utter crap. No one even knows what it's for apart from it's held on St. John's Day. When I was young fella, it was a real community event with a BBQ and everyone would cook stuff and bring it out to share around, but now it's just a bunch of knackers and unsupervised kids.

In Glenville which is a rural area outside Cork City, its known as St Johns night and its an annual community event, never any trouble there. It is very heavily supervised. Everyone just enjoys it.

miss_shadow

I thought this was a thread about bonfire stories. Not to winge about fire smoke inhalation and scobes. I only remember one bonfire night when i was about 5, it was guy forkes night and i was eating a toffee apple,my legs had pins and needles.it was cold. It was the only fire allowed in town so it had to be huge.and it was!the whole town arrives, guy forkes is chucked on the fire,we all cheer and eat stuff.

Funsterdelux

Hey guys

I'm not from Cork, but I'm a recent blow in. So does bonfire night come from celebrating St John's Day so? Coz I'm blind from asking my Cork fellows. Where I come from (up further north, where its colder and less stuffy) anything I have celebrated, I was made sure by my elders that I knew the reason behind it!

Darn Toothin!

bladebrew

can i start a thread about bonfire night being an excuse for anti-social behaviour??? i wouldnt want to take this thread off topic:)

im from dublin but living here years,and the same crap happens up there except its on may day and halloween,

200 calls to the emergency service,a gas main blown up,a firefighter injured because someone threw a stone at him:eek:,aerosol cans and even a fridge thrown into a fire in a certain park,

and the worst thing is what would happen if that scumbags (who injured the firefighter) house went on fire?? he would call the fire brigade:rolleyes:

excellent tradition!

Kersmash

It's a good idea in thought but in reality its an excuse for scumbags to get up to no good. Prime example, in Grange this year a lad was attacked with a hatchet. A fücking hatchet. Hit in the face and he's now fully paralysed. Great tradition, eh? Sickening.

hunnymonster

bladebrew wrote: »

200 calls to the emergency service,a gas main blown up,a firefighter injured because someone threw a stone at him:eek:,aerosol cans and even a fridge thrown into a fire in a certain park,

and the worst thing is what would happen if that scumbags (who injured the firefighter) house went on fire?? he would call the fire brigade:rolleyes:

excellent tradition!

The FB are barely staffed enough to handle the real emergencies and when eejits start kicking off on bonna night it puts everyone (FB & public with "ordinary" emergencies) in real danger. I'm living with a firefigher and I dread him being on shift on bonna night (or any of the nights around it).

MarkR

I was driving near gurranabraher there last week, and saw an entire green full of rubbish. Old furniture and crap. It looked like a garage sale was dropped from a helicopter. Was this for a bonfire?!

Dan Dare

MarkR wrote: »

I was driving near gurranabraher there last week, and saw an entire green full of rubbish. Old furniture and crap. It looked like a garage sale was dropped from a helicopter. Was this for a bonfire?!

Yes it was. I'm not from Cork but live here and I think the Bonfire Night is a crap tradition and ought not be tolerated in its current form, ie unsupervised scumbags polluting the city and county.

bmw535d

tis bonfire night again:D

themonboys

It's like downtown Baghdad after Operation Shock and Awe!!!!

Deliverance

Some stuff that happened today:

Good (organised):
1.Organised events, mini marquees with lots of attendance. Smallies loved it.
2.Great atmosphere at the organised events. Good to see that the councils are making attempts to control the event and turn it into a supervised event that the communities can enjoy. It takes it away from the scobes and morons.

Bad (unorganised):
1. Teens walking around with bags full of bottles, cue trouble later on.
2. Unruly immature 'adult' idiot neighbours encouraging the building of a bonfire on a nearby road. (which was set on fire after more mature neighbours appeared and reasonably asked for it to be re-located to a more safe area. Idiot neighbours got some entertainment and stood around like morons watching the fire brigade called out to put it out.
3. Garda van just screeched off with siren blazing in the middle of an area potentially packed with small kids.
4. Sirens going of every 5minutes as Fire Brigade attends illegal fires.
5. Fairly heavy Garda presence. They seem to be doing something about the illegal stuff which could lead to trouble later on.

I'm all for organised events, hopefully this will lead to the scobes and morons being phased out of the equation. heres hoping.

I heard on the radio there was an organised one on Clashduv, by the park where the flats were demolished a few years back there was one main bonfire and a few smaller ones, I was surprised that it was deemed organised as one of the smaller ones was a few feet from a large tree with very low branches :eek: Loads of drinking going on:eek: and no sign of any supervision in an official capacity

Still there was lots of adults about and everyone was in good form the ten mins I was there, that was 9pm ish though.

grenache

I thought Bonfire Night would be on May Day Eve, the day before the beginning of the ancient festival of Bealtaine? Thats when it is in Limerick, Clare and Kerry anyway.

Deliverance

grenache wrote: »

I thought Bonfire Night would be on May Day Eve, the day before the beginning of the ancient festival of Bealtaine? Thats when it is in Limerick, Clare and Kerry anyway.

June solstice combined with St John the baptists birth. The official day is the 24th but it is 'celebrated' on the eve because of xmas and christ and all that.

Tis a primordial excuse to celebrate fire though. Lets let fire to stuff. Fire is technology in it's most primitive form. Without fire we would not have chem reactions that converted one form of energy to the next form i.e. energy conversion. Even nuclear energy depends on fire i.e a cham reaction that produces heat that produces steam which drives turbines.

Tis a primal celebration of fire when you think about it.

DJ Hafez

Cork recycling factory caught on fire tonight too.... Was a fairly big fire!

themonboys

DJ Hafez wrote: »

Cork recycling factory caught on fire tonight too.... Was a fairly big fire!

Yeah? Where is that?

Trashbat

I've always thought bonfire night was much more civilized than bonfire nuight in the UK (5th of november), due to the fact we dont burn human effigies in Cork (i hope!).

I must say the lack of organisation is poor, and the potential for trouble is a bad thing, but the deterioration can be seen as a symptoom of modern society and the lack of community. People don't tend to know their neighbours as well andmore and don't get involved in community projects, meaning there's more chance of scumbags taking over.

I remember a bonfire in the middle parish a while back when i was a kid that was great. It was on a car park at the end of grattan st, IIRC. Those were the days before health and safety!

my funniest memory of bonfire night was when i had some visitors from Lithuania staying with me. we were walking up to my parents house and my friend says, in broken english "is this nice area, or council estate?", "It was originally council but its mostly owner occupied and reasonably gentrified now" I reply, only to walk around the corner to see a huge fire surrounded by feral kieds wielding hurleys and cans of lighter fluid. To see my friends face drop in fear was hilarious.:D

mudokon

Trashbat wrote: »

I've always thought bonfire night was much more civilized than bonfire nuight in the UK (5th of november), due to the fact we dont burn human effigies in Cork (i hope!).

I'm not originally from Cork but the effigy that is burned is the whole reason for the fact that there is a bonfire night in the UK. It's just a tradition, not sure where it started from though.

As for bonfire night here being more civilized, after every bonfire night the papers are full of stories of people throwing stones at firemen & the Gardai so I wouldn't exactly call them civilized celebrations.