This past July 4th, I got into a conversation about Independence Day with a stranger, a visiting Briton.He pointed out that as Guy Fawkes is in November, it gets dark much earlier and so the big fireworks shows are much earlier in the day-- no need to stop the party at 9PM when the fireworks kick on as in the case of July 4th, and no need to keep the kids up so late. Nice one!
Unfortunately, bonfires aren't a major social activity in the US for any particular reason, and so the various efforts are made to stamp out the activity entirely go largely unchallenged. Bastards!
Ironic with all the real fires and riots going on in France.