GUY FAWKES NIGHT 1: INTRODUCTION
The Fifth of November is a special night in Britain. It is called Guy Fawkes Night. All over the country adults, and especially children, get together to light large fires called bonfires and watch firework displays, usually in large public parks.
For over four hundred years we have celebrated this day. How did the tradition start?
And why on November 5th?
GUY FAWKES NIGHT 2: HOW THE TRADITION STARTED
For most of the adults and children in Britain the Fifth of November is simply a great night of excitement and enjoyment and most people do not know the full story of this very important event in the history of England. On this night in 1605 a man called Guy Fawkes tried to kill the King and the entire British government by exploding a bomb and destroying the Houses of Parliament.
Today Britain is a country where religion is not very important in political life. However, in 1605 your religion was very important and your life could depend on your religious beliefs. Guy Fawkes tried to kill the King of Britain because of the religious conflict between the traditional Catholic Church based in Rome and a new independent church based in Britain and controlled by the British King.
Catholics were being persecuted and there were laws against them, all the Catholic priests were ejected from the country.
Thirteen people including Guy Fawkes rented a house next door to Parliament to tunnel through to the cellars under the Parliament building. They put 36 barrels of gun powder into the cellars to explode when the King and his government arrived.
GUY FAWKES NIGHT 3: WHO WAS GUY FAWKES?
Guy Fawkes was a believer in the traditional Catholic religion. He was British but he had been a soldier fighting for the Catholics against the Protestants in Holland. He returned to Britain and joined the group of militant Catholics who wished to kill King James the First of England and Scotland and replace him with a Catholic monarch.
The conspirators were successful in digging the tunnel and in moving their 36 barrels of gunpowder into the cellars under the Parliament building. They were waiting for the King and the members of his government to arrive the next day. However someone was worried that when the bomb exploded it would kill not only the King and his government but also some Catholics who would be attending the opening of Parliament ceremony.
So a warning letter was sent anonymously to some of the Catholics who would be present the next day. Someone then told the King and he ordered that the cellars be searched. The gunpowder was discovered and the conspirators captured.
That night the people of London lit large fires to celebrate that the King was alive had not been assassinated and the people of Britain were still free from the Catholic Church and the power of the Pope.
Guy Fawkes was later executed...
GUY FAWKES NIGHT 4: HOW THE TRADITION GREW
On the very night of the Guy Fawkes capture and the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, people lit bonfires around London to celebrate the King’s survival. Months later, in January 1606 Parliament passed the Observance of November the 5th Act, an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure. Attendance at church was mandatory and a new form of service was added to the Book of Common Prayer.
What were those early Guy Fawkes nights like? In 1607 the city of Canterbury celebrated with 106 pounds (kilos) of gunpowder and three years later there were military parades, music food and drink for the town dignitaries. Meanwhile the general public held church sermons, rang church bells and lit bonfires and fireworks.
Gunpowder Treason Day, as it was known, was the main English state commemoration, but the tradition was still anti-Catholic and Puritans delivered sermons about the dangers of popery, while during increasingly raucous celebrations common folk burnt effigies of popular hate-figures, such as the pope.
Fireworks were banned under James II, who became king in 1685. Attempts by the government to tone down Gunpowder Treason Day celebrations were, however, largely unsuccessful. A ban on fireworks remained for safety reasons, but bonfires continued to be lit. For the lower classes the anniversary was a chance to pit disorder against order, a pretext for violence and uncontrolled revelry.
You can learn more about Guy Fawkes on this document: Guy Fawkes Story
