November 5 marks Guy Fawkes Day, a holiday that commemorates a foiled plot to bomb Parliament, according to BBC News.
Fawkes was born in April 1590 in York, England and by age 21 he had left home to fight for Spain in the Eighty Years War. Around that time, he became known as Guido.
Fawkes was then approached by Thomas Wintour to join what would become known as the Gunpowder Plot under the leadership of Robert Catesby. Due to his experience with gunpowder, he was chosen to source and ignite an explosion under Parliament. After 18 months of planning, Fawkes was arrested under the House of Lords at midnight on November 4 with 36 barrels of gunpowder that would have been sitting when Parliament opened the next day.
Robert Cecil broke the plot, and Fawkes was subjected to torture, before being sentenced to death.
Fawkes became emblematic of extremism, possibly because after being arrested, he refused to talk. By the 19th century, effigies of Fawkes were burned in bonfires that commemorated the failure of the plot.
The day began as Gunpowder Treason Day and gradually evolved into Guy Fawkes Day. Today, the masks are popular, especially after being prominently featured in the film "'V' for Vendetta." Members of Anonymous, a group that frequently protests Scientology, also frequently use the masks during their protest events. There are also rhymes that children recite:
Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes and his companions
Did the scheme contrive,
To blow the King and Parliament
All up alive.
Threescore barrels, laid below,
To prove old England's overthrow.
But, by God's providence, him they catch,
With a dark lantern,
Lighting a match!
A stick and a stake
For King James's sake!
If you won't give me one,
I'll take two,
The better for me,
And the worse for you.
A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,
A penn'orth of cheese to choke him,
A pint of beer to wash it down,
And a jolly good fire to burn him.
Holloa, boys! Holloa boys! Make the bells ring!
Holloa boys! Holloa boys! God save the King!
Hip, hip, hoor-r-ray!
A documentary about Guy Fawkes.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
