Remembering Benny Diceymus

5^th November is celebrated in the United Kingdom as Bonfire or Guy Fawkes Night, this being the date in 1605 when King James I and Parliament were saved from the dastardly Gunpowder Plot. Guy Fawkes was the plotter who was discovered in charge of the barrels of gunpowder underneath the House of Lords and who subsequently suffered the punishment of being hanged and quartered. 

Despite this grisly form of execution, the custom has been ever since to burn a “guy” on a bonfire, and to let off plenty of fireworks.

When I was a student in the early 1970s at what later became Bangor University in North Wales, there was a much more involved form of celebration, which was known as Benny Diceymus. This went back some years before I arrived, and continued for some time afterwards, but has now been abandoned – probably for health and safety reasons.

During my first and second years at Bangor I had a room at Neuadd Reichel, the oldest of the three men’s halls of residence. This was where Benny Diceymus originated. 

The story began with an error on the part of the Hall Warden, who presided over the formal evening dinners in Hall, at which staff and students were required to wear gowns. Grace was always said before dinner was served, and – this being North Wales – there had been much discussion over whether this should be said in English or Welsh. A compromise was reached and a Latin grace was agreed upon. This included the word “benedicimus”, which means “we commend”. The warden, not being a classical scholar, had no idea how to pronounce this word and so said “Benny Diceymus”.

The students – most of whom would not have not any more idea about this than the warden – promptly declared that Benny had been murdered, or diced, by the warden and so should receive a proper send-off.

This developed over the years into a formal procedure that was presided over by a high priest, a higher priest, who had to be taller than the high priest, and an even higher priest who had to be taller than both of them. Once the obsequies had been observed in the Junior Common Room, Benny’s cardboard coffin was then conveyed to its funeral pyre. 

It was no coincidence that this ceremony took place on 5^th November, because there was clearly a good excuse for building a suitable bonfire. That also led to the possibility of someone else’s bonfire being commandeered for the purpose of burning Benny’s coffin. That was when the true fun started.

Parading the coffin through the streets of Bangor was bound to attract attention, not to mention the gathering of extra followers. It also led to students from the other halls of residence doing what they could to stop the procession reaching its intended destination, especially if that destination was their own bonfire that they had intended to light in their own good time.

In other words, what began as a solemn scripted ceremony in Neuadd Reichel JCR often deteriorated into a grand punch-up somewhere on the streets of Bangor. It was usually a fairly good-natured confrontation, but sometimes tempers frayed and a few idiots got carried away and went too far.

The custom of Benny Diceymus as Bangor’s version of Guy Fawkes Night has therefore gone in and out of favour over the years, possibly depending on what the local Police had to say about it. Part of the event included posting an In Memoriam notice in The Times that lamented Benny’s passing, but that has not been present for a number of years. Presumably the students of Bangor now have less violent ways of enjoying themselves every 5^th November.

© John Welford