Guy Fawkes Night

I think I first heard of Guy Fawkes Night last year, and that was because Google mentioned it on their homepage. I'm not much of a history buff (even though I'd really like to be), and I've never seen V for Vendetta (I'm so uncool, I know).  But for the last few weeks, stores have been selling fireworks and colleges advertising fireworks displays. The Newcomers' Club also had a little blip about the holiday in their "upcoming events" pamphlet telling all of us non-locals about the holiday. In summary, it told the story of Guy Fawkes, a man who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament on November 5th, 1605. What caught my eye is that the way they celebrate that not happening is by holding fireworks displays and bonfires where Guy Fawkes is "burned in effigy."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did I read that correctly? I understand that this man was, by definition, a terrorist, but do you really want your children to "burn a Guy"? Anyway....

There's a lot more to this story. Guy Fawkes was just one of a group of English Catholic conspirators who planned to blow up Parliament - truly, the leader of this group was Sir Robert Catesby. This assassination attempt, known as the Gunpowder Plot, was to happen while King James I and other government leaders were there opening the new session. James, like his predecessor, Elizabeth I, persecuted Catholics by fining them for refusing to attend Protestant services. Catesby, Fawkes, and eleven other men were hoping to restore Catholic power in England by killing the king, kidnapping his daughter to serve as the "queen", and starting a revolution in the countryside.
But there were too many people involved, and not surprisingly somebody leaked the news. The night before the new session, Guy Fawkes was found by authorities in the cellar of the House of Lords guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder. Not too long after that the others involved were either killed resisting arrest or captured. The eight men who were still alive were tried January 27, 1606, found guilty of high treason, and two days later were brutally executed by being hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Ironically, even though most English Catholics were horrified to hear about the plot, more anti-Catholic legislation was introduced- exactly the opposite of what these men were trying to attain.

There's your history lesson for today.

I don't know how many Brits know the whole of that story, but one thing we know after Friday night is that they love fireworks. The display we saw at nearby Wolfson College lasted for twenty minutes! I kept thinking that we were seeing the finale and it just kept on going.
We took a few photos:

Prepared for the cold weather; unprepared for the amazing-ness of the fireworks we were about to see .

There were men down there in the middle of all of this! Crazy guys.

Hyperdrive! 

I look kind of crazy in this picture, but B did such a great job capturing the fireworks in the background.

We actually didn't stay around for the bonfire afterward, but headed back to NOOC for soup and rolls. It was a fun evening, even if the way they celebrate is a bit, um, intense.