Dr. Kevin Caizley, HOSA teacher

By Olivia Brenner

Health science teacher Dr. Kevin Caizley celebrates British holidays Boxing Day and Guy Fawkes Day. Boxing Day is celebrated the day after Christmas, and it is another day to spend with family and celebrate the Christmas season. Guy Fawkes Day, celebrated on Nov. 5, has a historical significance, and is often referred to as “Bonfire Night.” 

Dr. Caizley also celebrates Christmas and New Year’s but with British twists, of course. Traditional British foods like Yorkshire pudding always make its way into his Christmas Day dinner menu. On New Year’s Eve, one member of the family goes outside right before 12 to be the first one to walk into the house when the clock strikes midnight. This is referred to as “first footing” in Northern England and Scotland.

“You’re basically bringing health and prosperity into the home as the first act of the New Year,” Caizley said.

For Guy Fawkes Day, or Bonfire Night, kids will spend the two or three months before the holiday gathering wood for the huge bonfires that burn all around England, Scotland and Wales. A week or two before the celebration, the bonfire starts being built. It is an opportunity for the community to come together and celebrate their history. 

“Kids would build the bonfire, but all the community would come out and stand around the bonfire, and actually roast potatoes, too,” Caizley said. “If people have the opportunity to spend time in the UK, they need to do that.”