From the mind of Hamish

My views on news, current events, sports and the general goings on in my life.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Remember, remember the fifth of November.

Guy Fawkes season is once again upon us and once again there is a small group of idiots who seem intent on ruining the fun for everyone. Many of us saw pictures on the TV news of a group of teenagers firing fireworks at each other across a road.

The government has already made noises about banning the sale of fireworks from next year on. Other groups such as the SPCA and Fire Service make these noises every year. And then there is the strangest group, some talkback callers and hosts have actually advocated moving Guy Fawkes to sometime in May because it gets dark earlier and children won't have to stay up so late to watch the public displays. This, of course, is ludicrous because the actual date has significance.

Some people, including some at my place of work, have said we shouldn't be celebrating the actions of a "terrorist" on the fifth of November. Seems like a good argument right? Wrong! We're not celebrating what Fawkes did, we're celebrating catching him and foiling the Gunpowder Plot. That's why people used to put a dummy or "guy" into the bonfire, it was a burning effigy. Interestingly enough, this is also where the slang term guy originates from.

OK, a little history. In the late 1500s and early 1600s Catholics in England did not have equal rights and King James I refused to give them equal rights. This frustrated English Catholics to the point where 13 of them began to hatch the Gunpowder Plot. The aim of this plot wasn't to blow up Parliament and force the government to give Catholics equal rights, if it had been I can see how the terrorist comparison could be made. It was actually to start a full scale revolution in which James I's 9 year old daughter Elizabeth would be made Queen giving England a Catholic monarch. It is said that on the night of 5th November 1605 the people of London celebrated the foiling of the plot by lighting bonfires and holding street parties.

The historical significance of this date has long since been forgotten by most people but it is an important part of our heritage. I actually remember going to at least one party on Guy Fawkes evening where everyone from the street came and celebrated together, we had a bonfire and burned the "guy".

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason that the gunpowder treason,
Should ever be forgot.