by Christopher Knight

Created on: November 06, 2009

On November 5th, in countries around the world, people will celebrate Guy Fawkes Day. In recent history, bonfires stacked with fireworks and effigies of Guy Fawkes, the Pope and other political figures are lit in the streets. The origins of this celebration stem from a plot to blow up British Parliament in 1605.

Thirteen men, including one Guy Fawkes, plotted to overthrow a government that was persecuting English Catholics. Because of Guy's experience with explosives as a soldier in the Spanish army, he was put in charge of detonating the explosives that they would use to blow up the House of Lords. As the day grew closer some of the conspirators must have grown uneasy when it was learned that innocents and supporters to Catholics as well as Catholic nobility would almost certainly be killed as well. One of the conspirators sent an anonymous letter to Lord Monteagle warning him of the plot and the threat made its way to the King's ear.

When the plot was learned of, all of Parliament was searched on November 4th and into November 5th. In one of the cellars beneath Parliament the group of terrorists had stored 36 kegs (about 2 tons of gunpowder) to cause the explosion. Unfortunately for Guy Fawkes, he was in the cellar when the guards came upon the cellar and the barrels of powder. He was arrested and tortured to learn the names and location of the other members of his group. He said nothing until he learned that the other conspirators had given themselves up.

Guy was taken to be hung with his co-conspirators and then drawn and quartered. Guy was the last to climb to the gallows and whether he was weak from torture or fear, he jumped off of the gallows and broke his neck, so avoiding his intended fate. Many poetic verses were written to sum up these events, but the most well known is this:

Remember, remember the fifth of November

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot

I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot

A recent graphic novel and movie were loosely based on the events leading up to Guy Fawkes Day. The movie opens with this poem being recited. "V for Vendetta," is set in a post apocalyptic Britain and the main character is in effect a crusader freeing the citizens of Britain from a tyrannical government. He fights crime and injustice in a Guy Fawkes mask.

The tradition of setting bonfires began that November 5thin 1605 when the citizens of Britain had learned of the thwarted attempt to kill their King and the bonfires were set in celebration. This tradition still persists and over the years spread to the English colonies. The Queen only enters Parliament once a year and a full search is done of the entire grounds of Parliament including the cellars the day before. A not quite proven addition to the English language came from this event. The word "guy" as we use it today comes from Guy Fawkes. People refer to the effigies of Guy Fawkes as "the Guy." And that seems to have carried into calling people "that guy," or referring to a man as a guy.

Guy Fawkes Day has an interesting history and traditions that persist even today. Some say that now the celebration of Guy Fawkes day is as much about the preservation of the British Monarchy in 1605 as it is a celebration of a group of men trying to take down a government. Whatever the reason, History would not be the same without colorful stories and characters like Guy Fawkes.

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