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It's November 5 in England and bonfires blaze while fireworks explode. That can only mean on thing: its Guy Fawkes Day in merry ole England. More than 350 years ago when Guy Fawkes lived in England people of different faiths could not seem to get along well with one another. England was going through a Reformation.
Under the rule of Henry VIII, England separated the English Church from the Pope and formed the Church of England. This church was under the full leadership of the king. All subjects were required to swear oaths declaring the King's dominance as head of the church. Any that dared to oppose were thrown into prison.
When Henry VIII died, the young and unhealthy lad Edward VI succeeded him in 1547. In 1549 the new Prayer Book from the English Church brought about an even further detachment. After the death of Edward in 1553, Queen Mary Tudor ascended to the throne. The queen, being a Catholic herself, tried carelessly to restore the old faith back to England. Her plan failed and upon her death, Elizabeth I came to power in 1558.
The following four decades drove Catholics further underground for their worship. Many priests had to come from foreign lands in disguise. A Catholic named Fawkes and his friends did not like the way they were being treated. They planned to blow up the whole Parliament by hiding kegs of gunpowder in the cellar of the building. When the king and lawmakers met on November 5, they were to be blown up. Before the plan could be carried out, Fawkes and his men were caught and executed.
Since that day, November 5 has been a day to give thanks in England because the king and his men were saved. The English called this day of celebration,"Guy Fawkes Day" and it has become a day for festivity and carnivals. Boys and girls walk through the streets begging for "a penny for the guy." People make dummies that represent Guy Fawkes. Sometimes the dummy is decorated with firecrackers and thrown into a fiery bonfire. The firecrackers blow up the dummy bringing an end to Guy Fawkes and his day until the next year on November 5.
Who was Guy Fawkes?
Guy Fawkes was born April 13, 1570 and played a major part in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. As a good English Catholic he joined the Spanish army in 1593 and fought in the Netherlands. In 1604 he and some Catholic conspirators made plans to overthrow the Protestant monarchy in England. They planted gunpowder barrels in a cellar under the House of Lords scheming to explode them on November 5, 1605, when the king opened Parliament.
The Gunpowder Plot:
In 1605, Guy Fawkes and a group of conspirators made plans to blow up the English Parliament and King James I. The conspirators were angry because King James's banished the Jesuits from England. They wanted to take control from the King and return the country back to the Catholic faith. On November 5 the king made plans to open Parliament as usual.
But one of the group members, trying to protect his friend in the House of Lords, sent an anonymous letter for him not to attend Parliament that day. Naturally, the letter reached the king and the renegades were seized, tortured and executed. The conspirators, who began plotting early in 1604, took on so many members that secrecy became impossible.
Some group members:
ยท Robert Catesby
ยท Guy Fawkes
ยท Ambrose Rookwood
ยท Robert Winter
ยท Thomas Winter
ยท Christopher Wright
ยท John Wright
Under the House of Lords, a cellar secretly held 36 barrels of gunpowder, covered up with iron bars and firewood. The conspiracy was discovered through a mysterious letter received by Lord Monteagle urging him not to attend Parliament on opening day. The secret barrels were discovered on November 4, 1605 and Guy Fawkes was arrested as he entered the cellar. Under torture he revealed the plot and was executed on January 31.
Other conspirators were seized and killed on the spot, imprisoned or executed. Henry Garnett, the superior of the English Jesuits, was killed for knowing of the conspiracy. Although the plot was the work of a certain group of men, it brought hostility against all English Catholics and more harsh laws were brought against them, only making matters worse for the Catholics.
The celebration:
The English have been burning effigies (straw guy dolls) at Guy Fawkes Day for almost 400 years. However, when the first bonfires started the effigies were made to represent the Pope not Guy Fawkes. It was not until 1806 that Guy Fawkes dolls replaced the Pope. To prepare for Guy Fawkes Day the people make the effigies that will be burned at the bonfire.
In some parts of Great Britain, children still keep an old tradition by walking the streets and begging people for a "penny for the guy." This is much like America's trick or treating but instead of getting candy they get pennies and get to keep them. They even wear costumes and masks and some carry a straw dummy dressed in old clothes representing "the Guy."
On the night of Guy Fawkes Day, people in every neighborhood, and town get together to watch the flaming bonfires and the display of fireworks, but most of all to watch the Guy burn. The effigies are placed atop bonfires and then set on fire. Soon, the fireworks start and the English people make merriment and eat good food such as Potato Hash. England found a way to take a bad situation and turn it around for the good of their people.
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