Bonna Night Nostalgia

28th Jul 2010

Bonna Night Nostalgia

'Feens loves fires'. There's no better explanation for the strange and quirky tradition that is bonfire night in Cork: young adolescent males are mesmerised by fire. It's in the blood and for decades the tradition on estates around the city hasn't changed. Here's our guide to the birth, life and death of a Cork bonna….

7 Days To Go
Whilst playing kerbs or butcher somebody remembers it's going to be bonna night soon. On a housing estate the general rule is that if you 'think' of it and name your place before anyone else then the bonna is effectively yours. Debates about the best places to have the bonna begin. If it's too close to a cranky old woman's house she'll call the law. But if it's too far into the fields then nobody will help with dragging heavy burnable objects that distance.

A southside bonna in Togher. Feens pure cagey keeping their distance.

5 Days To Go
Competition for who can obtain the biggest fuel coup is rife. Sully claims he can get a couch from his next door neighbour. Dricky's dad can apparently get twelve pallets from work. Hoggie, who promised liquid hydrogen the year before, says his uncle might able to get jet fuel from the airport. And so on.

3 Days To Go
After many exotic claims of giant bonna fodder prove fruitless the pillaging and hauling begins. Old worn out bike tyres, small heavy cupboards, skirting boards riddled with nails, old stereo systems, bags of rubbish donated from the man who never pays his service charges, back doors with treacherous jagged broken glass hanging out of them. Parents chase away children with saws hanging from the trees in their front gardens hoping to grab a few branches.

2 Days To Go
Hunter gatherer children awake to the dramatic news that the other estate have allegedly stolen tyres and pallets from the bonna for their own fire. Tension mounts, vicious texts are issued to the alleged perpetrators and hurley braces are sharpened. Groups of beours are sent over to spy on the rival bonna. A night time raid retrieves some of the lost property and round the clock surveillance from bedroom windows bolsters the bonna's security.

1 Day To Go
Ms. O'Callaghan the sixty year old single school teacher with the weird accent (locally known as Spy 19) whose house is closest to the bonna has called to Sully, Dricky and Hoggie's mams to warn them about the impending inferno.

The lads are warned sternly and threatened with not going to the Munster Final so Sully (who officially 'owns' the bonna) hands over rightful ownership of the bonna to Scobey O'Brien whose mam is away on holidays with her new boyfriend. Like Vladamir Putin and 'President' Medvedev however, everyone knows where the real power is.

Midday Bonna Night - June 23rd
Dricky's nan says she doesn't want her new three piece suite. At least that's what Drickey thinks she said. It was either 'doesn't like' or 'doesn't want'. But he's pretty sure it's the one he wanted to hear.

She's over at mass so an army of fourteen year olds take two hours to haul the bounty of two armchairs and a four seater couch from her house to the site of the bonna. Shelly Sheehan, the park flah, now says she likes Dricky. Looks like the bounty has impressed somebody special and there might be a jag in it for him later.

Pure northside bonna. Everyone gettin' stuck in.

2.30pm
Everyone's lying around the, now worryingly large, pile of highly flammable objects, worn out after hauling the 3-piece to ground zero. Shelly Sheehan and her friends bring the lads some Mr. Freezes and they balm out on the grass. Shelly watches in awe as Dricky rolls his nan's armchair onto the bonna pile.

2.35pm
They hear somebody scream in the distance. A woman is running towards the bonna. It appears to be an elderly woman with a very red face. She's hysterical and angry.

4.30pm
The 3 piece suite is back in Dricky's nans. It smells of rubber tyres and oil. And there's a big rip on the arm of the couch from the nails in the skirting boards. Dricky won't be at the bonna tonight. Shelly Sheehan's into Hoggie now.

Sully tells Scobey to tell everyone that the bonna will start at half seven. Nobody is to light it until Sully gets back from his match against The Glen.

6.45pm
The bonna is lighting. Scobey who was guarding the stash couldn't resist messing with the newspapers and lighter and threw them into the pile when it got out of hand. Now the light dry wood crackles and the little branches begin to burn. The paper in the rubbish bags takes light next. He starts texting everyone in the park - "bonna on now".

7.30pm
Sully arrives back from the match and is livid when he sees the smoke. The bonna's already in full swing. The flames are so ferocious that the bonna is making a whistling noise and most people are nervous.

8pm
The car tyres are blistering and popping - sending thick black smoke directly into Ms. Walsh's garden who has washing out. The fire starters would dearly love to haul some of the stuff that hasn't yet caught fire off the pile to save it for later but nobody can get within 5 feet of the bonna with the heat.

9pm
The flames have finally eased off a bit and onlookers are starting to relax - although everyone is keeping an eye on the gang from the other estate who are loitering at the other end of the field. It looks like the law 'outed' theirs.

They approach gingerly and make a controversial peace offering - a bag of aerosols. The noise from them is apparently 'daycint' but Sully is dog wide - they'd whip your head off if the exploding shell hits you. No way.

9.10pm
Scatter! One of the gang suddenly lobs the whole bag of aerosols onto the fire and the boys do a legger. Boom! Boom! Feckin' langers! Luckily nobody's hurt but one of Shelly's friends, Sinéad, is bawling crying with fright and running for home. She might 'squeal' to her old pair.

9.20pm
As half-expected Sinéad's fiery old fella arrives on the scene with his super long garden hose and tells everyone to clear off. Ah but Mr. McCarthy we weren't bodderin' no-wan! All appeals for mercy are rejected. His daughter's upset must be avenged.

10pm
The bonna is a smouldering smelly black mess and despite the obvious disappointment there's a sense of relief that life can now return to normal as the day's drama finally ends. Everyone heads home for the night smelling like a fireman and sleeps like baby.