Guy Fawkes Day

Guy Fawkes was an English Catholic who, along with two fellow Catholic Englishmen, was involved in a plot to blow up the British Parliament in 1605. Their plan was to blow up Parliament and assassinate King James I, thus restoring a Catholic monarch to the throne. It did not work. 

Guy Fawkes was in charge of the gunpowder for this plot, and was guarding it when he was discovered during the early hours of the morning of November 5, 1605. This plan to assassinate King James I and blow up Parliament was also know as the Gunpowder Plot.

Guy Fawkes has become synonymous with the Gunpowder plot. Every year on the anniversary of this failed attempt to blow up Parliament, monarchists throughout the British Commonwealth celebrate by throwing a dummy symbolizing Guy Fawkes on a bonfire, or with a fireworks display. November 5th is known as Guy Fawkes Day.

I have been to a Guy Fawkes party in Canada where there was a dummy thrown into a bonfire.  I also attended the Guy Fawkes Day festivities in Wellington, New Zealand. The whole city goes down to the waterfront to watch the fireworks! It is a lot of fun.

Fireworks on the Wellington waterfront

Fireworks on the Wellington waterfront

~Angie