Remember, Remember the 5th of November...

...The gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.

As many of you are probably aware, this past Saturday was November 5th. For a lot of people it's a date you only sort of half-notice while writing it out on a page of notes or something and having it jog your memory back to V for Vendetta. The movie which isn't about the gunpowder plot per se but it sort of uses it as a backbone and sets the story to a dystopian future. Or maybe you didn't even realize that the fifth of November is actually minor holiday and you were just wondering what was up with the creepy masks cropping up as profile pictures on your newsfeed. Or is it just my friends who do things like that? The point is, Guy Fawkes day isn't too big of a deal in American because, quite frankly, it has nothing to do with us. But here in Britain it is a different story entirely, let me tell you about it!

*Disclaimer: my account of historical events in this blog are based upon what I half listened to my teacher say while we were standing in front of Parliament (What? It is a very loud, busy road!) and Google. It may not be completely accurate but hopefully it's at least entertaining.*

In 1605, a fellow called Guy Fawkes and 12 of his buddies decided to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Why? Well for the same reason any politically minded group tries to blow anything up, they felt that they were being treated unfairly and wanted to make a point, and hopefully murder the Monarch who was causing the problem at the same time. As they say - "Guy Fawkes was the only man ever to enter Parliament with honest intentions." You see, they were Catholic and had been getting a lot of crap from Queen Elizabeth I's Protestant monarchy. When King James I took over he was supposed to fix it; but he didn't, in fact, he sort of made it worse. So there ya go, Guy Fawkes and his Catholic buddies were fed up and logically the only way to take care of the problem was to wait until King James I and all of his closest advisers were in the Houses of Parliament to conduct some official business and blow the sucker to bits. Problem solved. And no one exactly went out of their way to stop them. At first the group set up camp in a house that they had bought across the street with the plan to dig a tunnel over to the cellar of Parliament through which they could sneak in absurd amounts of primitive explosives. But then, lo and behold, a few months before the big day, a storage room basically right below the Lords Chamber went up for rent. Fawkes and the rest of the men knew the golden rule of real estate (location, location, location) so they snapped that cozy little studio up with out any suspicion whatsoever and managed to haul something like 39 barrels of gunpowder down there with out anyone batting an eye. Really it is amazing that this plan didn't work. I mean come on, they barely even had to try to be sneaky.

Here is a picture of said Houses of Parliment I took
during class earlier in the week.
 As you can see, it's still there

Here's the problem though. Apparently Guy just let any old, non-committal schmo onto his gunpowder slinging team because one of his men actually had a brother-in-law who would have been in Parliament when the planned attack was to take place. In what was probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for their in-laws, this fellow got to feeling guilty and sent a cryptic little note on over to his extended family warning him not to go to work the next day. Either because he was a goody two shoes or he really just couldn't figure out what he was supposed to be getting out of a note that probably read like the work of a primary school kid who was new to riddle writing... and writing, the brother-in-law showed it to his Lords and Commons pals. They clearly got the message because on November 4th, they searched the houses of Parliament and found Fawkes hiding downstairs with the gunpowder. I don't know if any one knows why he was down there but it is my bet that he sucked at rock, paper, scissors and ended up with the job of lighting the powder. And thus their plan was foiled and all the members of the band were either arrested or ended up blowing themselves up while drying out their left over dynamite by the fire so they could try again later.

406 years later (and 5 days now, wow I'm slow at posting), there are Brits all over England celebrating this event as a minor holiday fondly dubbed Bonfire Night. It may seem a little odd to celebrate your government nearly being overthrown by terrorists in a violent uprising but I think there are two, equally valid, reasons this occasion is seen as worth remembering and the day has become a holiday. First, let's face it, London has been on fire a lot in it's long history, the whole city has basically burned to the ground at one time or another. But then, when someone tried to set it ablaze on purpose it held out! I'll drink to that fine display of fortitude, or lucky coincidence, and so will the rest of London's population! The other explanation is that 4 centuries ago, Guy Fawkes and the rest of the gang failed so epically that their story has gone down in history and they really just can't seem to live it down. You think it's fun to poke fun at someone for two weeks over one coffee spill to the crotch? Well this is like that, only the mistake was way bigger so everyone is still laughing at you.

And how exactly does one celebrate the near death experience of a historical landmark/government center (centre?) and subsequent capture, torture, and execution of the perpetrators? By having the local school children create replicas of them (the perps, not the buildings) to throw onto huge bonfires that are lit all over the city for people to stand and drink around while they wait to see fireworks which, I suppose, represent the explosions that didn't happen! Sure, it may sound a little bizarre and my teacher claims that it's all become just an excuse for a party but, hey, it's fun! Personally, I headed out to a park in Southwark with a friend who was in town for the weekend where we experienced a celebration not entirely unlike Independence Day back home. There was a really great fireworks show set to music that kicked off right at 7:00 (it gets dark at 5:00 here with daylight savings!) as promised. After counting down with the "worshipful mayor of Southwark", we stood in a large field and watched the impressive display from a distance that was so close it probably would have been deemed unsafe in The States. Unlike the 4th of July however, bonfire night is a chilly evening in November, people come out see the fireworks and leave, so there's no laying out on the grass and spending the the whole day in the park. On Bonfire Night you come, crane your neck all the way back for 15 minutes, and leave. But it's fun! Especially when you're an American college student who realizes, "Hey, I'm in London, England celebrating with the locals on Bonfire Night. How cool is this?"

This is just a fraction of the huge crowd out for the event in Southwark

Each explosion is essentially a tongue stuck out
at poor old Guy.

We had a very long day traversing all over the space-time anomaly
that is London but we were still stoked to see fireworks!

And that, in a structurally unsound nut shell, is the story of Bonfire Night. Hope you enjoyed!

Also, just as a heads up, I've got some traveling coming up in the near future so keep a look out for new posts about even more exotic places... sort of.

Cheers!