Remember, Remember, the 5th of November

                        Wishing our friends across the pond a 
                                  Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

For those of us stateside, here is a little bit about why this day is commemorated.  Guy Fawkes was a member of a group of English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.  The plan was to assassinate King James 1 and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne.  Fawkes was in charge of the gunpowder the

group was stockpiling under the House of Lords.  A tip led authorities to search under Westminster Palace, foil the plot, and arrest Guy Fawkes.

To celebrate the fact that King James 1 had survived this attempt on his life, people built bonfires.  Fawkes,

who was to be hanged, jumped from the scaffold and died in the fall.  On November 5th in Britain, his effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, commonly accompanied by fireworks. 

The story was first told to me by a beloved Shakespeare professor.  He held a huge party each year out on his property.  The undergrads were given the task of creating the effigy of the doomed Fawkes.  Grad students planned the feast.  We did not do fireworks, but Guy Fawkes was 10 ft. tall and the bonfire was huge!  That was fine with me, because it was very cold.  We used that bonfire to cook sausages, too, and that was yummy.

                                             Have Fun!