Today is Guy Fawkes's day in New Zealand. This is I came to understand is celebrated throughout New Zealand, Canada and the UK. Every year for one week fireworks are legally sold here in New Zealand to anyone over 14 years of age.
In theory the event is to remember Britain's infamous traitor - Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot conspirator. He was caught red-handed in Britain's House of Lords cellar in 1605, in an attempt to blow up Parliament and the king in order to rid the country of its Protestant rulers and restore the Catholic faith. I have no idea why the country is celebrating the failure of a terrorist act, as it seems to be. Over the last 400 years, this celebration has evolved into signalling the coming of summer.
As tonight was the last night and the actual Guy Fawkes's Day, the sky around where we lived, lighted up in brilliant sparks. It was really beautiful especially since the sun sets at about 8.30pm and the sky was somewhat bright in the background of not a dark night yet.
There were firework displays at the harbour here in Wellington but we gave it a miss this time around.
I hope we are not starting to take this country for granted. I seem to notice that I take less pictures of places we go to because it is there and we can visit it anytime. And now we are missing events because there is always another one around the corner.
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