Most people do not know the history behind 5th November as it is beautifully wrapped into a joyful celebration while containing a very gruesome story.If you light up bonfire and fire a cracker during 5th November, that means you're celebrating the failure of treason plot to fight against religious bigotry. On a personal note, Always know what you're celebrating, don't just follow the mass without understanding the essence of any single celebration. This post is meant to be a discussion of history revolving the gunpowder plot, Guy Fawkes and modern adaptions of Guy Fawkes spirit.Do not hesitate to add your voice regarding this issue.
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Background Information
Guy Fawkes was a devout Catholic man who lived in the UK during the reign of Elizabeth Tudor and King James I. In that time, Catholics were persecuted and all priests were ejected from the country under the Protestant law. Any civilians who do not accept and abide the law in the reign of Elizabeth Tudor would be punished to death. Right after her reign over, King James I took over the throne,yet he was still less tolerant towards the Catholic. Thus, Robert Catesby, a prominent resucant catholic, had a plan to overthrow the reign by blowing up the British parliament building. He gathered several people including Guyfawkes who was introduced by exiled welsh spy Hugh Owen.During that time,Guy Fawkes was fighting for Spain during the Dutch war of Independence. Soon as he joined the other fellow conspirators, he was appointed to be a chief conspirator.
The plot to annihilate the entire protestant government was planned to execute on 5th November 1605 as King James I was to have attended the parliament. Therefore, the conspirators including guyfawkes positioned about two tons of gunpowder inside the cellar of the British parliament building. Guyfawkes had a role to protect the explosives and to light them up. Unfortunately, one of the conspirators warned Lord Monteagle through an anonymous letter which stated;
."retyre youre self into yowre contee whence yow maye expect the event in safti for ... they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament"
Modern translation: Do not come to work for your own safety because the parliament building will be blown up
The letter sent by an anonymous traitor causing the plot to fail hence after the capture of guyfawkes in the cellar, the English authority killed and tortured all of the conspirators including innocent Catholic.
Even Guy Fawkes was not the leader of the plot, he was known for his courage and determination to be in the front line and sacrificed his life for something he believed. Today, his spirit is an inspiration to movements which opposes the government whilst also the representation of the oppressed voice.
The Elizabethan Guyfawkes vs The Modern Guyfwakes
Guy Fawkes lived during the shifting reign between Elizabeth Tudor to King James I thus I still classify him to be the Elizabethan as presumed he was born in 1570 although he was listed to the role during 1604 under the reign of King James I.
The Elizabethan Guy Fawkes was fighting against religious bigotry in which surprisingly, these days, the topic came to the surface again. The history repeats itself but in a different cultural background and circumstances. For instance, numerous conflicts were caused by religious bigotry yet this time involving the interfaith community. We saw the holocaust and today; there is the jihad movement and slaughtering human in the name of religion. And have we not learned from the history to be more tolerant towards another human being?
Additionally, he lived during the time where the freedom of speech was restricted. An act against the authority was condemned hence the form of protest was done through underground movement. It is also ironic given the Elizabethan era was also called as the golden age of the British development. There are also prolific writers during this period, and poetry was flourishing, yet the authority was oppressive towards a certain religion.
On the other hand, the modern representation is embodied into a face mask of Guy Fawkes which is worn by people during a protest against the government. The movement now is not only a protest against religious bigotry but also towards the authority and even the corporate.
Below is an example representation of the Modern Guy Fawkes
The Old Tradition VS The Modern Tradition of 5th November
Every 5th November in order to commemorate the fail plot of King's assassination, the citizen across Britain light bonfires and burn a statue of guy fawkes. The children would bring the effigy of guyfawkes and carried a sign "penny for the guy". As Britain colonialisation began, the tradition has spread to other countries.
nt y Bontnewydd Caernarfon yn casglu i'r "Guy"(Children from Bontnewydd, Caernarfon, collecting for the “Guy”) by Geoff Charles (1909-2002) under CC0 License.
Today, 5th November is now celebrated by masked protesters not to commemorate the fail plan of the assassination rather a protest to the government. For instance, according to an article published in telegraph, a protester gather in London streets and said to be collectively organized by a hacktivist group called "anonymous".
Likewise, a riot in Romania as written by @guyfawkes4-20( not to be mistaken with the Guido Fawkes) reported that during 5 November 2017 protesters gather into the street to protest against a newly passed law in Romania.
I went on the “holy” Facebook to search an event for 5th of November, and I found a riot against the Romanian Government and some stupid laws that they just created and I decided to go there and make a post about it.
To the whole, Guido Fawkes ( Guy Fawkes) spirit remains alive in the heart of people who sees inequality and injustice from the lawmaker.His spirit also carries a change to the better of the world. On a personal note, a demonstration is justified when the authority does not respond to the public demand. I have seen myself that a very big organized demonstration has managed to force the authority to take an action. We are living in a country that claims to be democratic but still do not uphold every democratic value( this will be another day to talk about).
Further Question
- If you are a British citizen, do you still attend the fireworks of 5th November?
- What word associate with Guy Fawkes? is it chaos, conspiracy? V for Vendetta? or others?
- If you happen to absorb the spirit of Guy Fawkes, how do you avoid the traitor in your plan?
- Have you read the historical Novel titled " Guy Fawkes" by William Harrison Ainsworth?
A very important note: This article is properly cited and for that reason if you find anything that is not properly cited do not hesitate to contact me to add the book and/or link to the bibliography section. I do not accept general Wikipedia to add to the bibliography section.Also,feel free to add your information, opinion as this post is meant to for educative and disscussion purpose.
Let me know if you like my history series or you can request other series that deals with liberal arts. Thank you for reading this lenghty post.
Bibliography
@guyfawkes4-20 (2017, November 7). Remember-remember-the-5th-of-november-riot-in-romania. Steemit.com. Retrieved from @guyfawkes4-20/remember-remember-the-5th-of-november-riot-in-romania
Habing, B. (2006, November 3). The Fifth of November - English Folk Verse. Retrieved from http://www.potw.org/archive/potw405.html
Haynes, Alan (2005) [1994], The Gunpowder Plot: Faith in Rebellion, Hayes and Sutton, ISBN 0-7509-4215-0
Northcote Parkinson, C. (1976), Gunpowder Treason and Plot, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ISBN 0-297-77224-4
Walter, S. (2017, November 5). Masked protesters take to the streets of London for annual Anonymous march . Retrieved December 6, 2017, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/05/masked-protesters-take-streets-london-annual-anonymous-march/.
