A.K.A Bonfire Night
Let's start of with the opening line to a famous poem (I only remember the opening line)
Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
Read below to see how it is connected to Bonfire Night!
DAN KITWOOD+GETTYIMAGES
What is Bonfire night?
Every year on the 5th of November people across Britain celebrate Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Night. They gather in parks, fields and back gardens across the country to light fireworks, sparklers and bonfires.
This is to commemorate Guy Fawkes Day, when a man named Guy Fawkes attempted to assassinate King James I, but failed, over 400 years ago.
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot
In 1604 King James I condemned Catholicism as a 'superstition', ordered all Catholic priests to leave England. Of course many Catholic people were against this. In 1603 some priests came up with a plane called the 'Bye Plot' to kidnap James, but they were turned in to the authorities by fellow Catholics. Another related incident that year, known as the Main Plot, sought to kill James and install his cousin on the throne.
In May 1604 five Catholic men, Guy Fawkes, Robert Catesby, Tom Wintour, Jack Wright and Thomas Percy met at the 'Duck and Drake Inn' in London. Robert Catesby proposed a plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament, a.k.a the seat of the King and government, using gunpowder...and they started plotting.
On November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes and the radical group attempted to assassinate King James I by blowing up the Parliament building as planned. But plot was discovered and all of the conspirators were executed. British people began to celebrate the failure of Guy Fawkes' and the survival of the King by burning effigies(figures), lighting bonfires and setting off fireworks. This tradition has continued to this day!
Who was Guy Fawkes?
Guy Fawkes is synonymous with Bonfire night. Fawkes was a Catholic and he fought for Catholic Spain in the Eighty Years war against the Protestant Dutch. He travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England without success. He met Thomas Wintour and they travelled back to England together. Thomas introduced him to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate the King and replace him with a Catholic Monarch.
Fawkes was recruited for his expertise in gunpowder and he going to light the fuse, setting off the explosion.
However, before he could light it, he was caught red-handed, after the authorities received an anonymous letter. Fawkes was immediately sent to the Tower of London and tortured for several days until he told them the full details of the plot and who his co-conspirators were, then they were also captured.
Detail from an illustration c.1900 by Trelleek showing Guy Fawkes caught in the act Alamy+Heritage Image Partnership Ltd
Pawel-Kopczynski, Occupy Berlin, 12 November 2011, Berlin, Reuters, http://www.businessinsider.com/where-the-guy-fawkes-masks-come-from-2013-11?IR=T
Pop culture
Guy Fawkes was known as a traitor, but recently he has been portrayed as a revolutionary hero, partially because of the influence of the 1980s graphic novel “V for Vendetta” and the 2005 movie of the same name starring Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman. The main character wears a Guy Fawkes mask while battling a future fascist government in Britain.
Guy Fawkes masks were used at the 'Occupy' Wall street protests in New York City in 2011.
Members of the hacktivist group know as 'Anonymous', which is famous for its internet activism, also wear Guy Fawkes masks.
In October 2019 protestors in Hong Kong wore the Guy Fawkes masks in opposition to the Chinese Government banning masks in protests.
In the 2021 'storming of the United States Capitol' some rioters wore the Guy Fawkes masks.
He has become a symbol of revolution. But Bonfire Night remains a celebratory festival in the U.K.
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