The fireworks we set off every 5th November are representing what would have happened if Guy fawkes had got away with his plot.however since the government is run by the Queen ,is it not saying that we don't want a government or Queen to run this country...
or something like that!
2006-10-23 00:07:01 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Government
Dear Santa, can I have one of those new Nintendo's for xmas?
2006-10-23 00:12:13 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
No. 1605, thirteen young men planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Among them was
Guy Fawkes, Britain's most notorious traitor.
After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, English Catholics who had been persecuted under her rule had hoped that her successor, James I, would be more tolerant of their religion. James I had, after all, had a Catholic mother. Unfortunately, James did not turn out to be more tolerant than Elizabeth and a number of young men, 13 to be exact, decided that violent action was the answer.
A small group took shape, under the leadership of Robert Catesby. Catesby felt that violent action was warranted. Indeed, the thing to do was to blow up the Houses of Parliament. In doing so, they would kill the King, maybe even the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics. Today these conspirators would be known as extremists, or terrorists.
To carry out their plan, the conspirators got hold of 36 barrels of gunpowder - and stored them in a cellar, just under the House of Lords.
But as the group worked on the plot, it became clear that innocent people would be hurt or killed in the attack, including some people who even fought for more rights for Catholics. Some of the plotters started having second thoughts. One of the group members even sent an anonymous letter warning his friend, Lord Monteagle, to stay away from the Parliament on November 5th. Was the letter real?
The warning letter reached the King, and the King's forces made plans to stop the conspirators.
Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar of the parliament with the 36 barrels of gunpowder when the authorities stormed it in the early hours of November 5th, was caught, tortured and executed.
It's unclear if the conspirators would ever have been able to pull off their plan to blow up the Parliament even if they had not been betrayed. Some have suggested that the gunpowder itself was so old as to be useless. Since Guy Fawkes and the other conspirators got caught before trying to ignite the powder, we'll never know for certain.
Even for the period which was notoriously unstable, the Gunpowder Plot struck a very profound chord for the people of England. In fact, even today, the reigning monarch only enters the Parliament once a year, on what is called "the State Opening of Parliament". Prior to the Opening, and according to custom, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster. Nowadays, the Queen and Parliament still observe this tradition.
On the very night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, on November 5th, 1605, bonfires were set alight to celebrate the safety of the King. Since then, November 5th has become known as Bonfire Night. The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.
Some of the English have been known to wonder, in a tongue in cheek kind of way, whether they are celebrating Fawkes' execution or honoring his attempt to do away with the government.!!!!
2006-10-23 17:52:33 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The idea is we re-burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire to show our solidarity with the government. It's also an anti-Catholic thing, as Guy Fawkes and his plotters were Catholics.
The fireworks were probably added later and don't have any meaning other than fun - but if you like we could re-interpret them as "Whehey! this is what it would have been like if they'd managed to blow up the houses of parliament! Wouldn't it have been great!" These days, such sentiments are probably all too easy to come by...
2006-10-23 07:15:24 · answer #3 · answered by Alyosha 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It is disguised as a celebration of the near miss of the blowing up of parliament and thus the burning of the anarchist: Guy Fawkes, but the tradition lies in our pagan past as the time is near Samhain 31st October.
2006-10-23 07:18:16 · answer #4 · answered by Andrea P 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy on the bonfire to symbolise our disapproval of the plot.
The fireworks celebrate the fact that the plot was discovered
2006-10-23 07:10:11 · answer #5 · answered by SteveT 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ive always pondered the actual point of Guy Fawkes Night. Maybe it's just an excuse for people to play with fire.
2006-10-23 07:10:16 · answer #6 · answered by Me, nobody else but me.... 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We celebrate the Burning of Guy Fawkes,he was burned at the stake on a bonfire after failing to blow up parliament.
2006-10-23 07:09:48 · answer #7 · answered by Alfred E. Newman 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The aim of the plot was to blow up Parliament and King James I, and was part of the protestant-catholic conflict raging throughout Europe. The English Parliament and King (who was also the Scottish King) were protestant, the plotters were catholic so, if successful, the explosion would have been part of a movement to bring England back in line with the Catholic Church in Rome. So the celebrations of November 5th were started because another dastardly Papist plot had been thwarted.
2006-10-23 07:18:45 · answer #8 · answered by AndyG45 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
For a start GF was trying to blow up Parliament - he was attacking the House of Commons.
Maybe he had a point.
Anyway any excuse for a fireworks display!!
2006-10-23 11:27:48 · answer #9 · answered by LongJohns 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No it is a celebration that the terrorist Guy Fawkes and his plot to blow up parliament failed. We celebrate the survival of parliament, we celebrate the defeat of terrorists and we burn an effigy of guy fawkes to show our gratitude that we maintained parliamentary democracy. (although parliamentary democracy in those days was FAR different from today)
Parliamentary Democracy is the best kind of Democracy.
2006-10-23 07:35:50 · answer #10 · answered by kenhallonthenet 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
No, it has nothing at all to do with politics. It is a celebration of the passing of summer. Now begins the darkening of the nights, until the darkest night, Christmas, draws us all into our homes for a great feast, until the beginning of the lightening, the beginning of the New Year, draws us out once again to celebrate. These are the old pagan feasts. Get to know your own culture.
2006-10-23 07:11:54 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋