Remember, Remember, the 5th Of November…
Remember, Remember, the 5th Of November
Gunpowder, treason, and plot…
These are the opening lines of the famous gunpowder rhyme that commemorates the attempt to blow up Britain’s Houses of Parliament in 1605, an act of violence that we would term “domestic terrorism” in this day and age.
I am sure most of you know the basic story as well as I do, which was that the plot was conceived by a group of English citizens who professed the Roman Catholic religion and wished to restore it as the country’s main faith—rather than the Protestantism that had become firmly established under Elizabeth 1 and was being continued by King James.
The plotters resolved to blow up parliament when the King was opening it, pretty much disposing of him and the rest of the government. The person designated to actually light the gunpowder fuse was a man called Guido or Guy Fawkes who had been a mercenary fighting for the Spanish crown in the Low Countries (what we now call Belgium and the Netherlands.)
The plot was discovered at the eleventh hour and Guy Fawkes, who was waiting to light the gunpowder, was caught on the scene. He was then tortured, reputedly for around two days, until he revealed the names of his fellow conspirators. He was subsequently executed, together with the other conspirators that survived discovery of the plot.
Although only a “rank and file” plotter, the fact Guy Fawkes was discovered with the gunpowder and was also the first conspirator captured may be why he has subsequently become the figure most closely associated with the plot in the public mind. November 5 is now called Guy Fawkes Day and he has also given his name to the ritual burning of the “guy” on the bonfires that are lit in commemoration. Fireworks are a later addition to the burning-in-effigy ritual, possibly because they explode, emulating the sound the gunpowder explosion would have made.
The Gunpowder Plot and its aftermath were undoubtedly real events but the timing, driven by the opening of parliament, just happened to overlap the religious festivals of All Saints and All Souls Days on 31 October and 1 November. Another name for All Saints is All Hallows Eve, more commonly known as Halloween. These Christian festivals, in their turn—as I discussed in a recent Supernatural Underground post, Halloween Is Coming—overlie the traditional Celtic festival of Samhein, which falls over the same days.
Samhain was a harvest’s end festival but also a “day of the dead” and celebrations traditionally included bonfires and activities such as divination and mumming, as well as feasting. In some cultures, too, fire crackers are used to scare away unwanted spirits. So overall, I am fascinated at the way in which commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot has shaped itself to the older traditions associated with the time of year when the events occurred.
I was also fascinated, when watching the V for Vendetta film, to see how the Gunpowder Plot was reshaped into a far more anarchic concept, one I suspect bears very little resemblance to the conspirators’ historical motivations. However, quite some years ago now an historian told me that history is always being retold to fit the times, so perhaps I should not be surprised if storytelling follows suit. 🙂