Bonfire Night

People in the United Kingdom celebrate Bonfire Night on 5^th November each year. Other names for Bonfiore Night are Guy Fawkes Night or Fireworks Night.

The story of Bonfire Night starts in the year 1605 when a group of people tried blow up the Houses of Parliament in London. England was a Protestant country at the time. The plotters were Catholics. They wanted to kill the King – James the First – so that they could replace him with a Catholic. They put 36 barrels of gunpowder in cellars under the buildings and planned to explode them on 5^th November while the King was opening parliament.

Guards discovered the plotters before they had chance to explode the gunpowder. Most of the people involved were arrested and later executed. One of these was Guido Fawkes (usually known as Guy Fawkes). He wasn’t the leader, but he is now the most famous member of the group.

In 1606 there were church services and bonfires to celebrate the fact that the King survived. Over 400 years later people still light bonfires and set off fireworks on 5^th November even though they might not know much about the original story

Traditionally, children would make “guys” – models representing Guy Fawkes – in the days or weeks before Bonfire Night. They would use old rags and newspapers and dress them in old clothes. Children would then take their guys – usually in a wheelbarrow or something similar – put them on the pavement outside a shop or pub and collect money by asking for “a penny for the guy”. They would then use the money to buy fireworks. On Bonfire Night they put their guy on top of a bonfire before it was lit. In recent years this sort of collecting – known as “going penny for the guying” – has become less usual – perhaps because of safety issues relating to collecting money on the street, buying and storing fireworks and having private bonfires in gardens or parks.

Some people have their own bonfire parties, but many more go to special events with bonfires and elaborate firework displays, usually organised to raise money for charity. These events often usually have music – either live or recorded – and food and drinks are on sale. Traditional foods on Bonfire Night include toffee apples (fresh apples covered in caramel) and parkin cake (a gingerbread cake made with oatmeal and black treacle).

Many people know and repeat the words: “Remember, remember the fifth of November” and: “Gunpowder, treason and plot”. Some people know that they are the start of an old nursery rhyme:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

Gunpowder treason and plot.

We see no reason

Why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!

There is a much longer version which we don’t use nowadays.

Because Guy Fawkes was regarded as a bad man, the word “guy” came to be used to mean “a bad man”. Later people used it to refer to any man. Nowadays – particularly in American English – people use it about anybody, whether male or female. Phrases such as “hey, guys”, “you guys”, “this guy” have become very common in informal language.

_{Posted by Graham}