Post by Katrina on Oct 14, 2005 21:26:56 GMT 1
The 5th of November is called ‘Guy Fawkes night' or ‘Bonfire Night'….. it is a celebration of the failure of an attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London in 1605.
Here's the story……
The story of Bonfire Night dates back to the 1600's, when there were many religious problems throughout England. King James the first was unpopular with catholics, because he passed laws that made them pay extra taxes.
12 angry Catholic extremists rebelled; one of them was called ‘Guy Fawkes'.
Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators, planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament using gunpowder, when the King was in residence. Their plan called the ‘gunpowder plot' set out to kill the King and wipe out government.
The King was going to be at the houses of Parliament on the 5 th November.
‘Guy Fawkes' was an expert in explosives. His role in the plan was to guard the explosives and set them alight when the King arrived.
However… the plan failed.
One of the conspirators had a friend in the Houses of Parliament and sent a letter to him, to warn him to stay away from the House on the day the attack. The letter was intercepted and handed to the King.
The Kings soldiers discovered Guy Fawkes and 36 barrels of explosives hidden in a cellar in the Houses of Parliament. Guy Fawkes was captured and his plot to blow up the Houses of parliament had been foiled.
The people of London were so pleased that the plan had been discovered before it had been too late. They started celebrating; on the night of 5 th November 1605 they started bonfires in the streets. One person made a puppet of Guy Fawkes and burnt it on the bonfire.
And this is the reason why…ever since…the British have celebrated ‘Bonfire Night' by starting bonfires and making puppets of ‘Guy Fawkes'…
Here's the story……
The story of Bonfire Night dates back to the 1600's, when there were many religious problems throughout England. King James the first was unpopular with catholics, because he passed laws that made them pay extra taxes.
12 angry Catholic extremists rebelled; one of them was called ‘Guy Fawkes'.
Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators, planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament using gunpowder, when the King was in residence. Their plan called the ‘gunpowder plot' set out to kill the King and wipe out government.
The King was going to be at the houses of Parliament on the 5 th November.
‘Guy Fawkes' was an expert in explosives. His role in the plan was to guard the explosives and set them alight when the King arrived.
However… the plan failed.
One of the conspirators had a friend in the Houses of Parliament and sent a letter to him, to warn him to stay away from the House on the day the attack. The letter was intercepted and handed to the King.
The Kings soldiers discovered Guy Fawkes and 36 barrels of explosives hidden in a cellar in the Houses of Parliament. Guy Fawkes was captured and his plot to blow up the Houses of parliament had been foiled.
The people of London were so pleased that the plan had been discovered before it had been too late. They started celebrating; on the night of 5 th November 1605 they started bonfires in the streets. One person made a puppet of Guy Fawkes and burnt it on the bonfire.
And this is the reason why…ever since…the British have celebrated ‘Bonfire Night' by starting bonfires and making puppets of ‘Guy Fawkes'…
