Guy Fawkes Night
Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
Traditionally the following
verse was also sung, but it has fallen out of favour because of its content.
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 hoorah!
As it is Fireworks Night tomorrow night, I thought I'd share it with you. Although we are living in France, where this is not celebrated, we have been invited to a party down the hill (as the family is also English). There are French people invited too. We will be giving them a history lesson to explain this tradition.
My two youngest, Raymonde and Isabelle, haven't been to a Firework Night for Guy Fawkes before, so I'll have to try to explain it to them too.
I can remember the twins being scared when they were little, but that was at big public displays which were very noisey.
For you folks, I nipped over to Wikipedia.
Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes Night(also known as Bonfire Night) is an annual celebration on the
evening of the 5th of
November. It
celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November 1605 in which a number of Roman Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses
of Parliament.
It is primarily marked in
the United
Kingdom, but also
in former British colonies including New Zealand, parts of Canada, and parts of the British Caribbean. Bonfire
Night was also common in Australia until the 1980s, but it was held on
the Queen's Birthday long weekend in June.
Festivities are centred
around the use of fireworks and the lighting of bonfires.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom,
celebrations take place in towns and villages across the country in the form of
both private and civic events. They involve fireworks displays and the building of bonfires on which "guys" are burnt. These
"guys" are traditionally effigies of Guy Fawkes, the most famous of the Gunpowder
Plot conspirators, or (very much less commonly in the present day) the Pope. Before the fifth, children traditionally use
the "guys" request a "penny for the guy" in order to raise
funds with which to buy fireworks.
In the United Kingdom,
there are several foods that are traditionally consumed on Guy Fawkes Night:
In the Black Country, it is a traditional night for
eating groaty
pudding.
In Lewes, it is a major festival that is also tied up
with the 17 Protestant martyrs that were burnt at the stake during the Catholic
reign of Mary Tudor. There are torchlight processions
in costumes necessitating the closure of the town centre. The usual bonfires
are topped off by burning effigies of Guy Fawkes and, often controversially,
other unpopular figures including the pope. Additionally a burning barrel of
tar is thrown in the river. The local police repeatedly call for restraint and
warn of overcrowding.
In Ottery St Mary, in Devon, burning barrels of tar are carried through the
streets:
"Ottery St. Mary is internationally
renowned for its tar barrels, an old custom said to have originated in the 17th
century, and which is held on November 5th each year. Each of Ottery's central
public houses sponsors a single barrel. In the weeks prior to the day of the
event, November 5th, the barrels are soaked with tar. The barrels are lit
outside each of the pubs in turn and once the flames begin to pour out, they
are hoisted up onto local people's backs and shoulders. The streets and alleys
around the pubs are packed with people, all eager to feel the lick of the
barrels flame. Seventeen Barrels all in all are lit over the course of the evening.
In the afternoon and early evening there are women's and boy's barrels, but as
the evening progresses the barrels get larger and by midnight they weigh at
least 30 kilos. A great sense of camaraderie exists between the 'Barrel
Rollers', despite the fact that they tussle constantly for supremacy of the
barrel. In most cases, generations of the same family carry the barrels and
take great pride in doing so. ... Opinion differs as to the origin of this
festival of fire, but the most widely accepted version is that it began as a
pagan ritual that cleanses the streets of evil spirits.
Guy Fawkes Night is less
commonly celebrated in Northern Ireland, where autumn fireworks and
bonfires are more commonly associated with Hallowe'en.
Southern
hemisphere
Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes
Night (and the weekend closest to it) is the main night for both amateur and official
fireworks displays in the UK and New Zealand.
In Australia, Guy Fawkes Night is mostly known simply as
Bonfire Night and bears little connection to its original purpose. Celebration
of Bonfire Night has died down due to the banning of fireworks in most states
and territories to prevent their misuse.
The day was moved to a more
suitable time of year due to the threat of bush fires in the dry Australian
summer.
In New Zealand,
the retail sale of personal use fireworks is permitted to those 18 and older,
and may now only be sold on the 4 days leading to Guy Fawkes Night.
Firecrackers have been banned since 1993, and rockets or any firework where the
firework itself flies have been banned since 1994. Despite these sales
restrictions, there is actually no restriction on when one may light fireworks,
only a restriction on when they may be sold. Despite the insistence of most
anti-fireworks campaigners, the continuing "mad rush" of fireworks
sales show that New Zealanders still appreciate fireworks and/or Guy Fawkes.
Caribbean
In the Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, this is a very exciting night in the town of Barrouallie, on the main island of St. Vincent's
leeward side. The town's field comes ablaze as people come to see all of the
traditional pyrotechnics.
Happy Guy Fawkes Night
Enjoy!
Sarah
Remember to clean up your rubbish after the event. We don't want litter pollution or neglect of caring for Mother Earth.
