Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night is a festival in Britain, on 5 November. It is also a festival in New Zealand, Canada and other British territories.
Guy Fawkes Night remembers the Gunpowder Plot. This was when a group of people wanted to use explosives to destroy the British Houses of Parliament in 1605. The people who created the Gunpowder Plot wanted a Catholic king for Britain. On 5 November, at night, the British king, James I, was inside the Houses of Parliament. King James was a member of the Protestant church, and the Gunpowder Plot group were Catholic. If the plan worked, then the new Parliament may have been destroyed.
The plan did not work, and soldiers captured the Catholic rebels. One of the rebels was Guy Fawkes.
Today, people create open air fires (bonfires), in towns across England. They remember the explosives by exploding fireworks in public places. People put cotton dummies (or "guys") on the bonfires. The guys represent Guy Fawkes. These guys are burnt at the top of the fire.
Traditionally children make the "guy" some days before 5 November, then carry it in the streets, asking for money - the traditional expression is "penny for the guy!"
In British schools, children draw fireworks, and learn the traditional rhyme for November 5:
"Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot."
