November 5th is known as "Guy Fawkes Night", and all over Britain people
fire off fireworks, light bonfires, and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. Guy
Fawkes was an Englishman who, in popular legend, tried to blow up the
Houses of Parliament with barrels of gunpowder. He was caught, tortured,
imprisoned, and finally executed, as we'll see.

Guy Fawkes was a co-conspirator in the "Gunpowder Plot" of 1605 in
England. He and his cohorts decided to blow up the Houses of Parliament
in London, and succeeded in smuggling several barrels of gunpowder into the basement.

The plot was foiled at the eleventh hour; some of the plotters escaped,
some turned King's Evidence and reported on the rest. The unlucky Fawkes
was taken in chains to the Tower of London and beheaded at dawn. He was
hanged, drawn and quartered. After Guy was hanged, he was dragged
through the streets of London behind a horse cart. At a public venue,
he was then chop into 'quarters'. The charge was treason, though some
people in England prefer to remember Guy as "the only man ever to enter
Parliament with honest intentions."

To this day, one of the ceremonies that accompany the opening of a new
session of parliament, is the searching of the basement, by a bunch of
men in funny hats. Parliament somehow made political capital out of the
close call, and poor Guido Fawkes is burned in effigy every November
5th on bonfires all over Britain. They sell a lot of fireworks too, and
children beg for money on the streets to buy them. The children usually
exhibit the "guy" or dummy that will be put on the fire. "Penny for the
guy, mister?" is a common refrain at this time of year.

"Remember, remember, the 5th of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
We see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot."


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