After celebrating Halloween last weekend, it´s time to focus on another festival (this one with a more British flavour...) Read through this text and learn some basic British History.
Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night is an annual celebration held on the evening of 5 November to mark the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605, in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to destroy the Houses of Parliament in London, assassinate James I of England and restore Catholicism to England.The occasion is primarily celebrated in Great Britain where, by an Act of Parliament called The Thanksgiving Act, it was compulsory until 1859, to celebrate the deliverance of the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Nowadays festivities are centred on the use of fireworks and the lighting of bonfires.
The Plot
The conspirators planned to place a hoard of gunpowder in an undercroft directly underneath the House of Lords. The plotters believed it to be the perfect place to hide explosives, as the undercroft had gone unused for some time. As October came and the plot was finalised, concerns arose that there may be Catholics present in Parliament when the device was to explode. On Saturday 26 October William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, one of the conspirators´ brother-in-law, received an anonymous letter warning him not to attend Parliament. On Friday 1 November the King was shown the letter, and it was later decided that a search of the Houses of Parliament would be undertaken on Monday.
According to the King's account, searchers discovered a servant nearby a large pile of firewood in the undercroft on Monday 4 November. As the searches had so far failed to locate anything untoward the King demanded that a more thorough search must commence. Shortly after midnight a search party discovered Guy Fawkes in the undercroft. Fawkes was placed under arrest, and his possessions searched. He was discovered to be carrying a pocket watch, matches, and torchwood. The search team then unearthed barrels of gunpowder hidden beneath the pile of firewood.
Fawkes claimed when interrogated that he had acted alone and was relocated to the Tower of London on 6 November, where he was to be tortured, after the King gave his consent for the torture to take place. On 7 November Fawkes confessed that he had not acted alone, and the full extent of the plot was unearthed. The plotters were all executed, and their heads placed on spikes outside the Houses of Lords.
Nowadays
Guy Fawkes Night still remains a yearly custom throughout Britain. Celebrations take place in towns and villages across the country in the form of both private and civic events. The festivities involve fireworks displays and the building of bonfires on which "guys" are traditionally burnt. The "guys" are traditionally effigies of Guy Fawkes, the most famous of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, although may also be effigies of local or national hate figures. Although the night is celebrated in York (Fawkes' hometown) some there do not burn his effigy, most notably those from his old school. In the weeks before bonfire night, children traditionally displayed the "guy" and requested a "penny for the guy" in order to raise funds with which to buy fireworks. However, this practice has diminished greatly, perhaps because it has been seen as begging, and also because children are not allowed to buy fireworks.
