Editing Bonfire (section)

===United Kingdom===
[[File:Guy Fawkes effigy by William Warby from Flickr.jpg|thumb|upright|An [[effigy]] of [[Guy Fawkes]], burnt on a [[Guy Fawkes Night]] bonfire]]
In the United Kingdom and some [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries bonfires are lit on [[Guy Fawkes Night]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bonfirenight.net/ |title=Guy Fawkes Night |publisher=Bonfirenight.net |date=13 April 2008 |access-date=2010-09-13}}</ref> a yearly celebration held on the evening of 5&nbsp;November to mark the failure of the [[Gunpowder Plot]] of 5 November 1605, in which a number of [[Roman Catholic|Catholic]] [[Conspiracy (crime)|conspirators]], including [[Guy Fawkes]], attempted to destroy the [[Palace of Westminster|House of Lords]] in London.

In [[Northern Ireland]] bonfires are lit on [[Halloween]], 31 October.<ref>[http://www.u.tv/News/Halloween-fire-calls-every-90-seconds/15324334-54c7-4167-b118-40fd763bf701 Halloween fire calls 'every 90 seconds'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101102150224/http://www.u.tv/News/Halloween-fire-calls-every-90-seconds/15324334-54c7-4167-b118-40fd763bf701 |date=2 November 2010 }} ''[[UTV News]]''</ref> and each 11 July, bonfires are lit by many [[Protestant]] communities to celebrate the victory of [[Williamite]] forces at the [[Battle of the Boyne]],<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6685061.ece]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} {{cite web |title=Quotes Library – Most Beautiful love & inspirational |url=http://www.quoteslibrary.org:80/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107015815/http://www.quoteslibrary.org/ |archive-date=7 November 2015 |access-date=2015-11-07}}</ref> which took place on 12 July 1690. This is often called the "[[Eleventh night]]". Bonfires have also been lit by [[Catholic]] communities on 9 August since 1972 to protest and commemorate [[Operation Demetrius|Internment]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.demotix.com/news/1378866/cleanup-begins-after-trouble-flared-anti-internment-bonfire#media-1378859 |title=Internment Bonfires |work=Demotix |date=9 August 2012 |access-date=6 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503204745/http://www.demotix.com/news/1378866/cleanup-begins-after-trouble-flared-anti-internment-bonfire#media-1378859 |archive-date=3 May 2015 }}</ref>

Historically in England, some time before 1400, fires were lit around [[Midsummer#England|Midsummer]] as a wake in the vigil for [[St John the Baptist]].<ref name=mirk>{{cite book |last1=Mirk |first1=John |last2=Erbe |first2=Theodor |title=Mirk's Festial: a collection of homilies |date=1905 |page=182 |url=https://archive.org/details/mirksfestialcoll00mirk/page/182 |access-date=2022-06-21}}</ref>  Folk would awake in the evening, and make three manners of fire: one with only clean bones ("bonys") and no wood called a "bonnefyre", one with clean wood and no bones called a "wakefyre", and the third with both bones and wood, called "Saynt Ionys Fyre".  Apparently the original wake fell into "lechery and gluttony", so the church deemed it instead as a fast.<ref name=mirk />

[[File:Burning wicker man by Bruce McAdam.jpg|upright|thumbnail|right|[[Wicker man]] [[effigy]] on fire at the Archaeolink outdoor museum, [[Oyne]], Aberdeenshire, Scotland]]

The annual rock and dance music [[Wickerman Festival]] takes place in [[Kirkcudbrightshire]], Scotland. Its main feature is the burning of a large wooden [[effigy]] on the last night.<ref>[http://www.thewickermanfestival.co.uk/gallery.html Gallery] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029051115/http://www.thewickermanfestival.co.uk/gallery.html |date=29 October 2012 }}, Thewickermanfestival.co.uk</ref> The Wickerman festival is inspired by the horror film ''[[The Wicker Man (1973 film)|The Wicker Man]]'', a film itself inspired by the Roman accounts of the Celtic Druids ritual burning of a wicker effigy.

A ship is also burnt as part of the mid-winter [[Up Helly Aa]] festival.

In Biggar, Lanarkshire, a bonfire is lit on Hogmanay (New Year's Eve) to celebrate the end of the old year and the beginning of the New Year. The bonfire takes almost a month to build using whatever combustible materials can be found. It is lit by a senior citizen of the town who is accompanied to the bonfire site (which is by the Corn Exchange in the centre of the town) by the local pipe band and several torchbearers. The celebrations are attended by hundreds of drinking and dancing revellers. During the war years, when a bonfire wasn't allowed, a candle was lit in a biscuit tin to keep the tradition of "burnin' oot the auld year" alive.