Amrose and Caleb Holder with their daughter Libby.
He is a lawyer; they moved from Australia.
Daniel and Estrellita Guy with their son Niclas.
She was born in the Philippines; Daniel in England. They had been working in Gibraltar previous
to moving to Guernsey.
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Guernsey celebrates Halloween, too. Brother Guy gave the Elders pumpkins to carve. So on Halloween - since they aren't to go out proselyting that night - they created their jack-o-lanterns.
November 5th is a unique day in England; it's called Guy Fawkes Day (also called Bonfire Night).
It's history began with the events of Nov. 5, 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the "Gunpowder Plot," was arrested while guarding barrels of gunpowder the conspirators had placed in the cellar beneath the Parliament building ...with intent to destroy the King. Celebrating the fact that King James had been saved from an attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London. Nov. 5th became an annual day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure, and is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.
Since our Brother Guy grew up in England, he volunteered to organize a branch activity for Bonfire Night. We had the traditional food: hotdogs, jacket potatoes, baked beans, and parkin (gingerbread). Since our yard is all either grass, shrubs, trees, or laid with brick or stone there's no open space for a real bonfire. Manuel supplied an old rusty garbage bin which contained a little fire all right. The Elders created a stuffed "Guy Fawkes" with an old pair of trousers and shirt for the 'burning.' We warmed up with nontraditional hot chocolate :) We had no fireworks to lite, but we could see and hear the neighbor's. It was a fun night, and we had one investigator attend.
England has a day similar to our Veterans Day on November 11th, called Remembrance Day. On that day precisely at 11:00 o'clock a siren is sounded and everyone pauses for 2 minutes of silence to honor the fallen soldiers from all wars. The Sunday closest to the 11th, is called Remembrance Sunday, and cities hold wreath laying ceremonies at cemeteries and memorial statues. The Poole Stake sent us a wreath to be laid at the Guernsey one to represent the church. One of our members went to the event to lay the wreath, since it took place at 11:00. during our meeting. He reported that it was very formally organized - with a parade of groups in uniform, representing the different military segments; after they laid their wreaths, then in turn, all other organizations and businesses laid their's on the monument. Later that week I was in town, and went to take a picture of the display, but the wind had caused havoc so I managed a shot of one of the wreaths still in good condition.
In our kitchen with limited tools, pans, and an undependable oven, our Thanksgiving Dinner was a big job, but we enjoyed it with the Elders, the Holder's and the Guy's. It's not a holiday celebrated by either England or Australia, so they had their first "American Thanksgiving" :)
That is neat you were able to celebrate Guy Fawkes day. I think other countries holidays are cool.
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