Gunpowder, treason & plot

[TheFifthElement]

Remember, remember the 5th of November?...

With Guy Fawkes night fast approaching, what are your plans for the night? Are you going to a bonfire? Have you got any good bonfire night stories/memories to share?

I have so many memories of bonfire night, sitting up in my room in the dark with my sister, peeking through the windows looking for all the bonfires and fireworks displays as soon as it got dark. We were lucky that we lived on one side of a big valley, so out of our window we could see the entire valley ablaze. My gran would bring treacle toffee, and we would have parkin cake (yum yum!), baked potatoes, potato pie, toffee apples (rotten teeth!). Our school would have a big bonfire every year and a fantastic fireworks display, and we would crane our necks to see the rockets shoot up into the sky, and the next day we would go out and look for the remains of the sticks, the smouldering remnants of the bonfires, and smell the burnt, frosty air.

Share your bonfire night stories here :)

[Virgil]

Remember, remember the 5th of November?...

With Guy Fawkes night fast approaching, what are your plans for the night? Are you going to a bonfire? Have you got any good bonfire night stories/memories to share?

I have so many memories of bonfire night, sitting up in my room in the dark with my sister, peeking through the windows looking for all the bonfires and fireworks displays as soon as it got dark. We were lucky that we lived on one side of a big valley, so out of our window we could see the entire valley ablaze. My gran would bring treacle toffee, and we would have parkin cake (yum yum!), baked potatoes, potato pie, toffee apples (rotten teeth!). Our school would have a big bonfire every year and a fantastic fireworks display, and we would crane our necks to see the rockets shoot up into the sky, and the next day we would go out and look for the remains of the sticks, the smouldering remnants of the bonfires, and smell the burnt, frosty air.

Share your bonfire night stories here :)

Is that something that is celebrated in England? Even informally on a folk level? Except for my learning in college of the period (Elizabethan I think), mostly for its references in Shakespeare, I would never have heard of Guy Fawkes. Wasn't he a hero to the Catholics? Who actually celebrates Guy Fawkes day? Sounds interesting. I would love to hear about it.

[TheFifthElement]

Is that something that is celebrated in England? Even informally on a folk level? Except for my learning in college of the period (Elizabethan I think), mostly for its references in Shakespeare, I would never have heard of Guy Fawkes. Wasn't he a hero to the Catholics? Who actually celebrates Guy Fawkes day? Sounds interesting. I would love to hear about it.

Oh Virgil, don't get me started!! In UK EVERYONE celebrates Guy Fawkes night! I believe also that in the ex-colonies which still have the Queen as head of state there is also some celebration (but I might be wrong about that!).

Guy Fawkes was one of a group of plotters (not the ringleader though - why it isn't Robert Catesby night I don't know?!) who attempted to blow up Parliament, and King James I in 1605. The plot involved the planting of gunpowder under the houses of Parliament. The plot failed, Parliament (and the King) were saved, and the plotters were all hanged, drawn and quartered for their act of treason.

Guy Fawkes was a Catholic attempting to remove a Protestant King from the throne. This is possibly why he would be considered a Catholic hero.

Each year we celebrate the fact that Guy Fawkes and his cohorts failed to overthrow the Government, and there is, or at least used to be, a ritual burning of the effigy of Guy Fawkes on the bonfire. When I was young we would make a 'Guy' and take it along the street in a wheelbarrow begging 'a penny for the Guy', and people would give you money! There is also a song which goes :

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!


More about Guy Fawkes night here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night

[cactus]

Was it true that King James I was lame?

Cactus

ps In Australia (still part of the Commonwealth) we don't celebrate Guy Fawkes Night

[Whifflingpin]

Guy Fawkes - "the only man to have entered Parliament with honest intentions"

[Virgil]

Oh Virgil, don't get me started!! In UK EVERYONE celebrates Guy Fawkes night! I believe also that in the ex-colonies which still have the Queen as head of state there is also some celebration (but I might be wrong about that!).

Guy Fawkes was one of a group of plotters (not the ringleader though - why it isn't Robert Catesby night I don't know?!) who attempted to blow up Parliament, and King James I in 1605. The plot involved the planting of gunpowder under the houses of Parliament. The plot failed, Parliament (and the King) were saved, and the plotters were all hanged, drawn and quartered for their act of treason.

Guy Fawkes was a Catholic attempting to remove a Protestant King from the throne. This is possibly why he would be considered a Catholic hero.

Each year we celebrate the fact that Guy Fawkes and his cohorts failed to overthrow the Government, and there is, or at least used to be, a ritual burning of the effigy of Guy Fawkes on the bonfire. When I was young we would make a 'Guy' and take it along the street in a wheelbarrow begging 'a penny for the Guy', and people would give you money! There is also a song which goes :

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!


More about Guy Fawkes night here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night

Thank you very much. I wasn't aware that it was some event that is celebrated. Sounds interesting.


Guy Fawkes - "the only man to have entered Parliament with honest intentions"

:lol: :lol: Very good Whiff. Perhpas he needs to come to our Congress. :D

And in honor of Guy Fawkes, this is my 11,000th post!

[TheFifthElement]

And in honor of Guy Fawkes, this is my 11,000th post!

The legend lives on :)

[TheFifthElement]

It's the blitz!!!

There are fireworks galore tonight :)

[Taliesin]

You mean.... the custom isn't blowing up your Parliament?

Damn.
Adapting foreign customs is tricky. So many mistakes can be made.