Night Guy Fox

The most noisy holiday in England is the day of Guy Fox, which is celebrated every year on November 5. The only thing that day falls on Sunday, the holiday is transferred a day earlier and is celebrated on Saturday and on the night from 4 to 5 November.

History of the holiday or powder conspiracy

Guy Fox, probably, the only criminal in the world, with the name of which is associated with a holiday, celebrated by almost the country. And this day is not connected with the life of Guy Fox, but with one day in his biography. This day came on November 5, when several conspirators planned to blow up the Parliament of Great Britain during the performance of King Yakov I. There were also representatives of both chambers. At least Guy Fox and was not the initiator of the "powder conspiracy", he was assigned to him the main role in him – he was the only one who knew how to handle gunpowder because he had a military experience.

Why conspirators generally decided to blow the king and deputies of both chambers? The thing is that in the territory of England in those times, Catholics were persecuted. In 1603, Yaraya Protestant Queen of Elizabeth I died, in which Catholics lived at all. After her, the throne took Yakov I – Son executed by the wild Elizabeth Mary Stewart. He was tolerant of representatives of Catholicism, besides, he was married to Catholic, so Catholics treated him to the throne with enthusiasm. And at first, Yakov was configured to Catholics in England quite loyally, until he learned about the conspiracy. Then the persecution began again and the orders set by Elizabeth were returned.

After that, a conspiracy was planned, called "Powder", the initiator of which was Robert Kateby. On November 5, 1605, Yakov had to, as always, to attend the opening of the next parliamentary session, then the explosion was planned, the capacity of which allowed to destroy all the buildings of the Parliament and nearby territories. It was expected that so noisy killing of the king and deputies will awaken the people who will overthrow the Board of Protestants. The conspirators managed to hide in the abandoned basement, where they stop the tunnel in advance, 36 porch barrels. However, their plans were not destined to come true.

One of the conspirators shared their plans with Lord Montiglu, writing him with a warning letter so that he did not appear at this session of Parliament. Lord decided to secure not only his life, but also the lives of the rest. As a result, the letter came to Yakov himself. Conspirators were not immediately arrested to catch them at the crime scene. On the night of 4 to 5 November 1905, Guy Fox went to the basement to set fire to the wick, where he was caught with political. Evidence found with him did not allow to unlock. Then Guy Fox stated that if he had been detained inside the basement, he would blew himself and caught, and the whole building.

After Torture Guy Fox issued his accomplices and told all the secrets of the conspiracy. Later, all guilty of conspiracy were publicly executed, but still many mysteries remain in this story. Some historians believe that the conspiracy of Yakov I was planned to strengthen his power, because it was impossible to imperceptibly check out to unauthorized people on the territory close to parliament.

Barrels with gunpowders were neutralized, people living near and learned about the danger threatened them, immediately began to celebrate their salvation. They burned fires, someone made the first in the history of the stuffed Gaya Fox to burn it.

The same tradition with widespread fires, supplemented with fireworks and exploding petardes, has reached our time.

Night Guy Fox today

Each schoolboy in England knows the children’s poem "Remember, Remember The Fifth of November", which means "remember, remember not in vain the fifth day of November".

Night Guy Fox is not considered a public holiday, but until 1959, all residents of Great Britain were to participate in the celebration of this day. Now the religious component of this holiday went into the past, and the day of Guy Fox is often called the day of fireworks or wildfire afternoon. It is believed that Fireworks in England have gained popularity only thanks to this holiday.

Fall asleep on this night does not manage to anyone, so the streets are full of people. Each self-respecting Englishman on the night of Guy Fox launches in the sky of the Petard or fireworks, carries the carts with a fire, burns specially made scarecrow Guy Fox or simply supports other screams and applause. It is worth saying that the holiday is not limited to one day. Long until the night of Guy Fox, people begin to "rehearse" explosions and fireworks. In the coming by November 5, weekends in the parks are carried out costume views and events for all family members.

Also, the day of Guy Fox is celebrated in several former colonies of Great Britain – in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, in some provinces of Canada.

In addition to the cheerful and noisy tradition of the celebration, another tradition related to the day of Guy Fox has been preserved. Before the beginning of each session of Parliament, now conduct a special ceremony of inspection of all basement buildings of the building.

Joking tradition in England related to November 5, cooking cookies are considered (recipes can be different), when one of them is bare chili powder. The one who will get exactly this cookie will receive an unforgettable fireworks also in the mouth.

It is worth saying that the integral appeal "Guy" or "Guy" went on behalf of the main character of this day – Guy Fox. First, the word "Guy" denoted him to the scarecrow, burned on November 5, then the stuffed in a general sense, even later – a poorly dressed young man, and now in conversational English is often so called any guy or young man.