Remember, remember the 5th of November!

Tonight is Guy Fawkes Night here in England. This is a holiday that might take some newcomers by surprise. What happened on 5 November 1605 and why do they celebrate it each year with fireworks and burning some poor bloke in effigy in a bonfire?

Henry VIII left the Catholic Church and established the Church of England in about 1534. Although he always thought of himself as a Catholic, the laws passed to establish him as head of the Church of England lead later monarchs to impose increasingly harsher penalties and restrictions on anyone who remained Catholic. These restrictions lead to unrest among Catholics and their mistreatment under the law and in public.

Guido Fawkes (aka Guy) was a Catholic and member of a group opposing the restrictions on Catholics. This group decided to get rid of Protestant rule in England by blowing up Parliament with King James I, all the Lords and members of Parliament inside.

Guy was not the leader of this group but simply the man given the task of lighting the barrels of gunpowder the group had secreted in the basement of the Parliament building. He was a latter day suicide bomber if you will.

However, someone in the terrorist group decided to send a note to one Catholic MP suggesting he go back to his home county in case something happened. At first the warning letter was thought to be a hoax but it was finally taken to Kind James who informed the authorities.

When the guards went to explore the basement they discovered Guy leaving and found barrels of gunpowder hidden under stacks of firewood and coal. Guy was tortured for several days in an effort to obtain the names of the other conspirators but when he finally talked he gave only the names of those already caught or dead.

He and the other members were tried in January of 1606 and sentenced to hang. Guy was the last to be taken to the gallows but jumped before he could be hanged and broke his neck.

For several years after the Gunpowder Rebellion, bonfires where lit to celebrate the survival of the monarchy.

For the past week fireworks have been heard going off each night around London but tonight, 5 November, will be a celebration to rival our 4th of July in the US.