Rememember, remember the fifth of November – Guy Fwkes Night

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
gunpowder, treason and plot,

I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
’twas his intent
to blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow:
By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
Hip hip hoorah!

Last night, as a quick Google Blog Search will show we Brits continued the strange holiday tradition which is Guy Fawkes Night.

We celebrate failure in the UK. One of our biggest celebrations of the year (judging by the way the ground was shaking with explosions and the sky was filled with the lights of fireworks last night) simply wont die out.

Whilst I didnt see the Guy’s I remembered from my youth, the tradition of bonfires and fireworks remain. I am sure that in parts of the UK you would even have still seen the Stuffed Effigies made by men and boys and hauled around the streets with collections being made before their death by fire- “penny for the guy?”

One of these years I will probably go to Lewes to see the biggest display. But, last night even in the back yard of a small church in London there was a serious number of fireworks set off.

The modern man of tolerance conveniently forgets both the reasons for the rememberance of a failed Gunpowder Plot and the now long forgotten alleged words of the second verse of that poem.

A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing o’ cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we’ll say ol’ Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!

Bonfire Night is a celebration of our continued Protestant nature. We celebrate that we were not forced to become Catholics again. It is in a sense a closure on our bloody civil war. In some ways, it was our “independance day”.

You might well ask “Is it right to continue to celebrate our non-catholic nature?” My reply, is that I hope my catholic friends will understand that I for one am still glad for the results of the reformation, and will continue to remember the fith of november.