In 1605, Guy Fawkes (also known as Guido - yes, really) and a group of co-conspirators attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament to kill the King, James I and the entire Parliament.
The conspirators were angered because King James had been exiling Jesuits from England. The plotters wanted to wrest power away from the king and return the country to the Catholic faith. Guy Fawkes and his friends had rolled 36 barrels of gunpowder under the Houses of Parliament. Today, they would be known as extremists. However, in an attempt to protect a friend in the House of Lords, one of the group members sent an anonymous letter warning his friend to stay away from the parliament. Was the letter real? The warning letter reached the King, and the conspirators were caught, tortured and executed.
It's been 393 years since gunpowder, treason and plot but the smell of sulphur still has the explosive addiction that poor old Guy Fawkes missed by an inch. On the night of Guy Fawkes Day, every neighbourhood, village, and town gets together to watch bonfires and fireworks, and of course, to burn the "guy".
The practice of burning the effigies on the night of November 5th was started in 1606, just years after the failed Gunpowder plot. In these first bonfires, called "bone fires" at the time, it was not the bones or effigies of Guy Fawkes which were burned, but those of the Pope. It was not until 1806, two centuries later, that the people started burning effigies of Guy Fawkes. Still today, some communities throw dummies of both Guy Fawkes and the Pope on the bonfire.
Some of the English have been known to wonder whether they are celebrating Fawkes' execution or honouring his attempt to do away with the government.
These days, Guy Fawkes Day is also known as Bonfire Night. Since the invention of fireworks the celebrations have really gone with 'a bang', for many the annual opportunity to view fireworks in all their splendour has long overtaken the wish to commemorate a historical event.
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