please empty your brain below
You've missed CremeEggFest, which although a Spring festival, starts immediately after Christfest.

Half a physicist | 26.10.17 - 7:17 a.m. | #

I think you'll find that Christfest starts in mid August. At least that is when I first saw cards for sale in certain card shops.

Barry | 26.10.17 - 7:36 a.m. | #

You should have left off T**********g,it might give retailers ideas. We don't need another imported Holiday opportunity.

Mike | 26.10.17 - 7:37 a.m. | #

I'm sure the BBC's poppy-wearing gets earlier each year. There was one on the News last night. To me, this premature anticipation of the event detracts from the significance of the day itself - in the same way that people seem to be "partied-out" long before December 25th.

In the 1920s, When WW1 was well within the memory of most of the population, it was accepted practice to only wear the poppy on Armistice Day itself - a key point in one of Dorothy Sayers' "Lord Peter Wimsey" mysteries. If that's good enough for the (admittedly fictional) General Fentiman, it's good enough for me.

timbo | Homepage | 26.10.17 - 7:41 a.m. | #

Depending where you live, Diwali is quite a big deal too, marking an earlier start to the fireworks, perhaps calling it 'FireworksSeason' would be more accurate than 'Gunpowdersday'.

Still anon | 26.10.17 - 7:41 a.m. | #

@still anon

Gunpowder is the principal ingredient in fireworks, so the name might be considered appropriate to cover both events.

timbo | 26.10.17 - 7:51 a.m. | #

Agreed on the Diwali addition to fireworks. I know a pilot who was coming into Heathrow last week and he said, "Southall looked like the bridge scene from Apocalypse Now!"

Chris | 26.10.17 - 8:03 a.m. | #

It's got to be said, there has been a marked decrease in the early start to "full on" Christmas marketing, stuff in shops, etc., ever since Halloween became a full on "thing". I suppose we have the Americans to thank for Christmas therefore being only 2 months not 3+!

Jordan D | 26.10.17 - 8:14 a.m. | #

Is gunpowderday one of the few festivals that has actually got shorter over the years? A couple of decades ago it seemed that gunpowderday lasted for weeks now it just seems to revolve around 5 Now and nearest weekend presumably because of the increasing restrictions on sale of fireworks

John | 26.10.17 - 8:20 a.m. | #

In Sussex, parades of flaming torches and fireworks and bonfires are every Saturday evening from the beginning of September to the end of November. Each participating town or village visits the others to take part in their parade.
http://www.hbbs.info/index.php/traditions/sussex-bonfire-dates

Mike S | 26.10.17 - 8:40 a.m. | #

In parts of this great city, and in many other places up and down this pleasant land, groups of bored teenagers continue for months to celebrate the invention of Gunpowder by hurling fireworks in the street.

Bob L-S | 26.10.17 - 9:12 a.m. | #

Just a question do children still make guys for bonfire night?
When I was young and living in England, I once made a guy with some friends: we then went around the neighbourhood to collect money.

YDU | 26.10.17 - 9:13 a.m. | #

Timbo - education wise the destruction of Parliament is usually referred to as the 'Gunpowder Plot' - and the current BBC series is called Gunpowder, so in that context Gunpowdersday is reasonable, but in the wider social context, religious groups have extended the firework season outside of that historical context, nobody sets off 'Gunpowderworks' or goes to a Gunpowder display.

Still anon | 26.10.17 - 9:13 a.m. | #

I've seen the term Twixmas used for the period from 27 to 31 December, dominated by sales and convoluted ways of exploiting the extended working break that many people seem to wangle, alongside the school holiday.

Waterhouse | 26.10.17 - 9:19 a.m. | #

A year-long festival seems to have come into being called "Seasonal".

Malcolm | 26.10.17 - 9:19 a.m. | #

what about Danglemas™?

wolf | 26.10.17 - 9:24 a.m. | #

I rather like the idea of black Friday which is the start of Christmas shopping in the US. It would clear shops of trees and tinsel in the summer at least.

Richard | Homepage | 26.10.17 - 9:51 a.m. | #

@ John - Whitsun? The churches barely celebrate it now, the Bank Holiday is 'Late Spring', the half term is rarely called it.

There's two key reasons why Gunpowder has declined:
1) Fireworks have centralised to big displays for convenience and safety reasons. You used to go do a big display on the Friday or Saturday, and have a small display in someone's garden on the 5th as well, but now it's mostly just the big displays and thus a one off thing on one evening, rather than a season.
2) That American interloper (well, Scottish/Irish via America - which changed quite a bit) of Halloween has muscled in thanks to things like the Simpsons in the last 20 years (especially the last 5ish years).

The most lamentable thing about Fire/Fireworks Fest being overtaken by Spooky/Scary/Sweets Fest (it's not about Hallows/Saints is it?) is that traditional bonfire fayre is hard to find. Gone are the Bonfire Toffees, treacle versions of Golden Syrup cakes, etc and in are spooky-themed seasonal sweets/cakes.

Si | 26.10.17 - 10:18 a.m. | #

@waterhouse

"I've seen the term Twixmas used for the period from 27 to 31 December,"

Those dates are fully part of the Christmas season, namely the 3rd to the 7th days of the twelve. Traditionally the festivities lasted all the way to Twelfth Night - but on no account would decorations etc have been put up before Christmas Eve.

I was once told by a Spanish colleague that it is not done in Spanish-speaking countries to wish someone a Happy Easter before the day itself (even if you are not going to see them again until after Easter), as that would be to disregard the significance of Holy Week and Good Friday.

timbo | 26.10.17 - 10:47 a.m. | #

Last Sunday I bought a box of mince pies, and I don't regret it!

Greg S | 26.10.17 - 11:06 a.m. | #

For those of us who like to spread the cost of Christfest I'm happy to start browsing from mid-October, but nothing really gets going until after my birthday (yesterday) which marks the 2-month point!

Having lived in America while the kids were young, I love Hallowe'enmas, but also being into genealogy it's more of an Ancestors Day for me.
As far as I'm concerned Black Friday can do one!! In both countries!

Thanks to the sale of fireworks all the time in many shops round here, Gunpowdersday seems to be almost year round here - from Diwali to Chinese New Year, with a few other religious or family celebrations thrown in over the summer months for good measure!

Not seen Penny for the Guy since the early 1980s though.

Cornish Cockney | 26.10.17 - 11:22 a.m. | #

applepay, ping-it, paypal-it for the guy, anyone?

b | 26.10.17 - 11:54 a.m. | #

Mince pies in October. Probably displayed next to hot cross buns. Groan. As the man said: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

Even the Royal British Legion says that Remembrancetide only covers the two weeks before Remembrance Sunday. Put those poppies away until this weekend.

dg writes: The official 2017 Poppy Appeal launches today.

Andrew | 26.10.17 - 12:17 p.m. | #

I did read that as Halloween Enemas.

Lux | 26.10.17 - 2:46 p.m. | #

It does seem to be a established rule nowadays that the traditional date for doing a thing is the last date on which it can be done, so that Hallowe'enmas ends on Hallowe'en, Gunpowdertide on Guy Fawkes' Day, etc. - and Christmas, sadly, on December 25th.

Yes, Hallowe'en prevents an earlier start to both Christmas and Gunpowdertide - in America itself, of course, there is also Thanksgiving, which means that the beginning of Christmas comes even later.

And I'm pleased to see DG still writing 'Hallowe'en', an imperilled form nowadays, so much that my spellchecker doesn't recognise it.

Andrew (M | 26.10.17 - 2:47 p.m. | #

Sounds like the RBL should read its own FAQs:

When should I start and stop wearing a poppy?
Traditionally at the start of Remembrancetide which is two Saturdays before poppy Saturday (the day before Remembrance Sunday) is the first day for offering poppies.

The Legion's position is that they can be worn whenever offered, and we are not concerned if people wear them slightly ahead of the traditional date. Similarly, we do not have an official end date, but it is recommended that you stop wearing your poppy on 12 November.

But obviously they are happy to sell you one at any time, just like supermarkets with hot cross buns, and the "official" start date has been creeping backwards into the third week before Remembrance Sunday.

dg writes: I call it Poppycreep

Andrew | 26.10.17 - 5:47 p.m. | #

At one time you would have a poppy seller knock at your door, I don't think this has happened to me since the early 1980s.

Still anon | 26.10.17 - 7:38 p.m. | #

'Christfest' into at least the first week in January also?

E | 26.10.17 - 7:41 p.m. | #

I now refuse to partake in the quasi-fascist groupthink ritual of Poppytide, esp. since the RBL got into bed with arms manufacturers and purveyors. As for Black Friday - strewth.

Burntweenie | 26.10.17 - 7:45 p.m. | #

@Jordan: can I make my annual point that Halloween is not American, though it has been Americanised a bit. My dad went guising (ie in disguise) in Glasgow in the 50s.

martin | 27.10.17 - 7:44 a.m. | #

@E
"'Christfest' into at least the first week in January also? "
As it should be - the religious festival of Christmas is twelve days long - it starts on Christmas Day (and not before) and ends on Jan 5th (Twelfth Night).

Some traditions include the Epiphany season, which extends to Candlemas (Feb 2nd, forty days after Christmas Day), which commemorates Christ's presentation in the Temple. Shrove Tuesday can fall as early as the following day, but has not done so since 1818 and will not do so again until 2285.

timbo | 28.10.17 - 3:21 p.m. | #

Hallowe'enmas always used to be very much a thing for children, but tonight the public transport was very populated by fully grown adults playing at it, all fancy-dressed.

NickW | 28.10.17 - 11:36 p.m. | #











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