Friday, November 5, 2010

Bonfire Night

Today is a big day in Britain called Bonfire night or Guy Fawkes day. It is a really interesting holiday that some compare to our 4th of July. There are definitely fireworks for both celebrations.

Today Britains celebrate what didn't happen. Guy Fawkes loaded the basement of parliament with gun powder to blow up the building and start a Catholic revolt to the Protestant government. Fawkes was caught and an execution was planned, but he jumped and broke his neck before they got the chance. The capital was saved! So how do you celebrate an even like that? You burn a dummy of Fawkes on your big bonfire and view fireworks. I'm told one area still burns a dummy of the pope to symbolize that the Protestants won. It is quite interesting to hear people talk about this holiday that confuses me a bit. Guy Fawkes was from York so when we went last week we heard a little more about his story and saw the protestant church where he was baptized.

2 comments:

  1. Welcome to the UK, Jenelle. I hope you like our cold, damp and miserable weather ... oh, with the odd five minutes of sunshine every now and then.

    Congratulation about your baby in April.

    May I correct one slight innaccuracy in your post of today. Immediately before his execution on 31 January 1606, Guy Fawkes jumped from the scaffold where he was to be hanged and broke his neck, thus avoiding the agony of the drawing and quartering that followed.

    It's true that an effigy of the Pope is burnt annually - I believe somewhere in Essex.

    God bless you and yours.

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  2. oops, thanks for the correction. I guess I was just told too many facts to remember them correctly, I will amend my post with the proper facts.

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