Remember, Remember the Fifth of November...

November 5 in Britain is celebrated as Guy Fawkes Night with large bonfires and lots of fireworks. I've been asking around why they would celebrate someone who tried to blow up Parliament and mostly I just received shrugs and answers like "we like bonfires and fireworks." I guess most people in the US wouldn't be able to give a good explanation as to why we celebrate Halloween the way we do, either. Here's the explanation I found in the handbook for international students:

Every year on November 5, British people light fireworks and bonfires to commemorate the 1604 failed plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament.  Known as the Gunpowder Plot, the scheme was hatched by a group of men (including Guy Fawkes) who bought the house next to the Parliament building and filled the cellar with barrels of gunpowder - a total of 2 tons. Guy Fawkes had the job of guarding the barrels and lighting the fuse. Someone tipped off a member of Parliament by sending him a letter urging him not to attend the opening of Parliament and this led to the discovery of the gunpowder and the arrest of Guy Fawkes on the night of November 4 as he entered the cellar. He was taken to the Tower of London, where he was hung, drawn and quartered.  At the time he was considered something of a hero for trying to fight what he saw as betrayal on the part of King James I: this group believed the king had gone back on a promise to stop the mistreatment of Catholics. (King James VI of Scotland succeeded Queen Elizabeth I as King James I of England, uniting the two nations peacefully; though he was the son of Mary Queen of Scots - a Catholic - he was a Protestant. This is the king who authorized publication of the King James version of the Bible in 1611.)

So why the bonfires and fireworks? In celebration of his survival, King James ordered that people have a bonfire on the night of November 5, a tradition that has continued for centuries.  Interestingly, Guy Fawkes masks have now become the popular symbol of recent anti-corporate greed protests around Europe. (They also play a prominent role in the movie "V for Vendetta.")  Seems there is still a difference of opinion as to whether he was a hero or a villain.



Here is the ditty people sing around the bonfire (which sometimes includes an effigy of Guy Fawkes):

Remember, remember the fifth of November
gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes: 'twas his intent
to blow up the King and Parliament.

We saw several bonfires on our bus ride back from the Yorkshire Moors Saturday night, and heard fireworks going off for hours after returning home.