Gunpowder and Mooncakes: Foreign Festivals Familiar to Few

Holidays are a great time for all to give gifts, to partake in traditional cooking, to feel spirited (maybe spiritual), and to come together with friends and family. Celebrations and festivals from all corners of the world, revolve around familiar, universal concepts: some stem from moments of religious significance; others celebrate ancestors and the living; while national holidays are created to cherish victories and ideals. 

But this is not always the case, as just across the pond, it would seem the British have created a holiday to commemorate religiously-fueled domestic terrorism. Guy Fawkes Day is a bizarre, unique, and vaguely terrifying celebration. Although it is not as popular as it once was, tens of thousands in Britain and abroad celebrate it today. 

In the Tudor Period (~15-17th centuries), the Catholic population of England faced harsh persecution from the Protestant Crown. In 1605, several wronged and zealous Catholics came together in London to bring about radical change. The men decided to assassinate the King and his family on the opening day of Parliament. 

The man planning to plant the gunpowder was named Guy Fawkes. Fawkes planted enough powder in the cellar to blow up the entire building twice over, but on the last night, Guy Fawkes was captured and the plot discovered. Parliament declared November 5th, the day of the failed plot, a day of celebration, commemorating the failure of the Gunpowder Plot.

During the first celebration, Londoners lit bonfires to celebrate the King’s survival. Celebrating his majesty’s health was mandatory, required from all subjects by law. Of course nowadays, those who celebrate do so willingly and see the occasion as a night to have fun, and marvel at the put on festival of light. 

As per custom, people create child-sized straw figurines of the man whose name the festival bears (called colloquially ‘Guys’), dressing them in timely appropriate clothes and iconic hats. The second name for this holiday is Bonfire Night, and true to it, the sky gets hazy with wood smoke every jubilee. After sunfall, people take to the streets and, at the city bonfire or at independent gatherings, set their guys aflame. 

Despite literally burning his likeness at the stake every year, the British do not seem to agree what place Fawkes has in their history. Although many consider him a religious fanatic and terrorist, to others Fawkes is a symbol of liberty and a populism. 

More recently, a new trend has emerged. The British have embraced Guy Fawkes Day as a political celebration, and use the holiday as a display of civil power. This November, side by side with classic Guy Fawkes effigies, many Boris Johnsons and Donald Trumps were burned. Guy Fawkes Day 2021 will happen on the same anniversary as it has for 400 years, November 5th.

On the flip side of the festivities coin is the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, a family oriented holiday celebrated all around the world, but its roots trace back to South-East Asia. As an occasion, the festival is incalculably old, it is believed to be at least fifteen thousand, perhaps twenty thousand years in practice. 

The event has an old and close relationship with the harvest. For millennia, farmers have harvested their fields in August and September, when parents would spend all their time at work. As the work came to an end, families wanted nothing more than to spend time together, and thus the festival was born.

Although the celebration has persisted, the traditions change with time. Still, festivities are always held under a full moon, which is a symbol for prosperity and wholeness. The festival will be celebrated on the 21st of September this coming year. 

The Moon Festival comes to many households by another name, Mooncake Day. A mooncake consists of a thick red bean or lotus seed filling, enveloped in a thin, yolk-heavy crust. The rite of mooncake making is especially prominent in southern mainland China, where Mooncake Day is a universal celebration. Cakes are big, made to be eaten together, and with tea to accompany. Adults may drink rice or cassia wine.

The occasion is quite universal in all of Asia, but on such a vast plane, customs differ a lot. In Japan, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is known as Tsukimi – moon-viewing. On this day, the Japanese hold picnics and drink sake in commemoration of the harvest. In Korea it is Chuseok, which also features a spiritual practice. During Chuseok, Koreans visit their hometowns and remember ancestors. There is plenty of food to go around as with any great occasion.

The festival is celebrated with even more fanfare in its believed origin, Vietnam, where it is called Tet Trung Thu. Besides a harvest festival, Tet Trung Thu is also a festival of light. Children carry fizzling sparklers and paper lanterns shaped into fish, butterflies, and stars. Dancing and mooncakes are also featured.

Festivals come in all cultures and magnitudes. Fundamentally, all celebrations, from Mardi Gras to Boxing Day, draw from the human love for fun. Fun emerges in every megapolis and village and fun can surpass any barrier. So long as there is fun, we will have holidays.