The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see of no reason why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot."
This morning I drove up to London to participate in the celebration of Guy Fawkes day. This is Britian's version of the 4th of July with respect to fireworks, bonfires, and big parties and it commemorates the day in 1605 when God is said to have protected King James I from a conspiracy by a bunch of terrorists who were intent on blowing up Parliment. James, who was the son of Mary Queen of Scots, took the throne after Elizabeth I died without leaving a direct heir. Since the 8,000 Catholics living in England at that time weren't treated very nicely by Elizabeth, they were hopeful that the son of a fellow Catholic would give them a better shake after uniting the kingdoms of England and Scotland under one crown. When that didn't happen, Guy Fawkes and four other conspirators decided to take matters into their own hands, assasinate all the protestant rulers and place a Catholic queen on the throne. As it turned out, one of the MP's got word of the plot and Guy Fawkes was captured, tortured, hanged, drawn and quartered, and then had his head placed on display on London bridge. This wasn't thought to be enough of a retribution, so they made a national holiday out of the event. Every year, Guy Fawkes figures are placed at the top of bonfires in order to celebrate the manner in which this criminal was brought to justice. Until about 100 years ago, as part of the celebration they would tie the Guy Fawkes doll to a cat so that it would scream as it burned, making the whole experience slightly more realistic. Whether it was due to the advent of pyrotecnics or PETA I'm not really sure, but this tradition was eventually deemed unnecessary. I have to say this whole experience has given me a whole new appreciation for the British. While they're celebrating history's most successful experience with anti-terrorism, we in America are releasing movies like "V for Vendetta" which glorify the events of Nov 5 in such a way that I think we're meant to go and sign up for Al Qaeda by the time the film is over.
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