Fireworks display

 "Remember, remember, the 5th of November, gunpowder, treason and plot". Thus begins the old rhyme, and remember it we certainly do at the annual Bonfire Night. Every 5th November fires are lit across the country, fireworks blaze in abundance, and people (well some) recall the attempt in 1605 by Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators to blow up the House of Lords and kill all within. Quite a few bonfires still feature a figure or effigy of Guy Fawkes but this aspect of the celebration seems to be declining. Large, spectacular fireworks displays, however, are becoming ever more popular. The photographs above are a composite of a few I took at a fine display in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

St Catherine and her wheel

Like most children of my generation the fireworks that I knew included the Catherine Wheel. This spiral was pinned to a wooden post, the fuse was lit and the the wheel rotated rapidly under the power of the explosive until none was left. What I didn't know was that a Catherine Wheel was also the name of the breaking wheel on which, and with which, criminals were tortured and killed. In the early fourth century Catherine of Alexandria, a Christian, was martyred by this method on the orders of the emperor Maxentius. As Saint Catherine she became a venerated saint of the church, often depicted in paintings and stained glass. The medieval example above was photographed in the church at Deerhurst, Gloucestershire.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10