"Bonfire Night" or "Guy Fawkes' Night" at first glance seems
exactly the same as Hallowe'en, with its bonfires,
effigy-burning and general mayhem, but it is a much
more recent tradition firmly rooted in fact,
not myth and superstition. It is also an
entirely secular festival, although religion did
play a part in its beginnings.
THE ORIGINS OF THE FESTIVALGuy Fawkes was born in York in 1570, to a Protestant
family although his widowed mother married a
Catholic and young Guy was educated with Catholic
schoolmates. When Guy himself converted is not known,
but he served in the Spanish army (then occupying
the Netherlands) and adopted the name Guido.
During Guy Fawkes' childhood the Catholic church
was systematically oppressed by successive monarchs,
children of Henry VIII who broke away from
Rome over the Pope's refusal to grant him a divorce.
The severity of the persecution varied from monarch
to monarch, but when Elizabeth I died childless,
James VI of Scotland was invited to take the English
throne. James was the son of the Catholic Mary
Queen of Scots (imprisoned and eventually
executed by order of Elizabeth,) and so it was widely
hoped - indeed expected - that he would relax
the stringent laws controlling the Catholics and
allow them to live and worship in peace. At
first it seemed that the new king would fulfil all
their expectations, but change was very little and
very slow, so although the majority of the population
- Protestant and so unaffected by anti-Catholic
laws - welcomed James enthusiastically, a conspiracy to depose
the king and set a new, Catholic monarch on the
throne began to grow.
Guy Fawkes was drawn into the Plot, masterminded by
the fanatical Robert Catesby, in 1604 after
meeting up with his old schoolfriends, and together
they hatched a plan, not simply to depose King
James but to kill him AND his Parliament when
they met at the Palace of Westminster. Between
them, the plotters managed to collect together
36 barrels of gunpowder and smuggled them into the
cellars of one of the shops within the palace
precincts, cellars which extended under the House of Lords.
Whether or not the conspirators were betrayed or
even "set up" is open to conjecture, but on the
night of November 4th Guy Fawkes, whose task it
was to lay the powder and light the fuse when the
King and Parliament were in place above the
following day, was discovered in the cellar with
all the incriminating evidence, arrested and taken
to the Tower of London. He readily admitted his
part in the plot but was tortured to extract the
names of the other conspirators from him.
Once they knew that Guy Fawkes had been arrested,
the rest of the plotters realised that it was only
a matter of time before their names were known and
so they fled to Staffordshire in the English Midlands,
arriving early on the 7th and taking refuge
in Holbeche House. Several of them were injured
in an accidental explosion and then the Sheriff
of Worcester arrived with armed troops and a further
four were killed in the ensuing shoot-out. The
survivors all fled but were rounded up and imprisoned
in the Tower to be tried for High Treason,
although one died in prison before he could be tried.
In January 1606 the surviving eight conspirators
were put on trial. All of them pleaded guilty and
all were condemned to death. They were hanged,
drawn and quartered, the standard punishment
for traitors; the four who died at Holbeche were
exhumed and their heads were removed and put
on public display.
Guy Fawkes Night has been celebrated every year
since 1606, when the government proclaimed that
it should be an annual celebration. Even though
the Puritans banned most public celebrations after
the Civil War, they allowed Guy Fawkes Night to
continue. Guy Fawkes - or "Bonfire" - night
is the most popular and widely celebrated of British
secular holidays and has virtually replaced
Hallowe'en. Although it is celebrated by
government decree, they have so far not seen
fit to declare it a public holiday!
CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS
Many of the customs of Guy Fawkes night have
been carried over from Hallowe'en : the bonfires
which are the main characteristic of the celebration
are used to burn effigies, called "Guys" although he
wasn't burned at the stake. These effigies
originally depicted the Pope - another burst
of anti-catholic fervour - but now are symbolic
and most people think they really do represent Guy
Fawkes and his failed attempt to destroy the King
and Government.
In the weeks leading up to November 5th, children
construct these "guys" out of old clothes etc.
and position themselves on street corners, outside
shops, pubs etc., begging for "A penny for the
Guy, mister?" These "pennies" used to be spent on
fireworks for the big day, but now legislation
prevents children from buying fireworks themselves.
A lot of time and energy is spent in collecting
wood and anything combustible to build a bonfire - the
bigger the better. In the week before Bonfire Night
the Fire Brigade is hard-pressed dealing with
out-of-control bonfires which have been set
alight prematurely, often in totally unsuitable places.
As soon as it gets dark on November 5th, the
festivities begin. Every city, town, village and
hamlet in the country will light its bonfires, and
there will be tens of thousands of private bonfire
parties. Families, friends and neighbours get
together and watch the bonfire, the children
throw their Guys on and watch them burn, and the sky
will be full of bursting fireworks. November
nights are cold, often freezing, and so hot
food and drink is customary - traditional Bonfire
treats include Parkin, particularly in Yorkshire
and the north, baked potatoes (delicious if cooked
in the embers of the fire), treacle toffee and
toffee apples, and drinks of hot soup and cocoa
are much appreciated.
The night before Bonfire Night (November 5th) sees
Mischief Night, the British equivalent of "trick-
or-treating" - minus the treats! On Mischief
Night groups of children roam the neighbourhood
looking for mischief, playing pranks with no
recourse to buying them off with a few sweets!
Favourites in my childhood included lifting gates
off hinges and re-hanging them the "wrong" way
round (a largely obsolete practice as lift-off
hinges are fast disappearing), tying door-knockers
together with string and the old and tame but (we
thought) very amusing pastime of knocking on doors
and running away (called, for some reason, "knock-
on-ginger.") Garden gnomes would mysteriously
move from garden to garden, and later, when we had
neighbours who actually HAD cars, we would tie them
up with rolls and rolls of toilet paper.
Nowadays Mischief Night seems to have been taken
over by older youths whose exploits sometimes
venture into vandalism and harassment which is
no longer so widely tolerated.
There are many sites about the Gunpowder Plot,
but two of the best are the Gunpowder Plot Society
and Guy Fawkes – Treason in 1605 a very comprehensive
site with cross-references, pictures and
contemporary music.
