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Guy Fawkes Night, also known as '''Bonfire Night''', '''Fireworks Night''' and '''Plot Night''', is an annual celebration (but not a Public Holiday ) on the evening of the 5th Of November primarily in the United Kingdom , but also in New Zealand , South Africa , the province of Newfoundland ( Canada ), and formerly in Australia . It celebrates the failure of the Gunpowder Plot , in which a group of Catholic conspirators attempted to blow up the Houses Of Parliament in London on the evening of 5 November 1605 , when the Protestant King James I (James VI of Scotland) was within its walls. Although associated with the Gunpowder Plot, the festival goes back to pagan times. In his book, "The Marian Conspiracy", author Graham Phillips writes: "According to a theory proposed by my friend the author Andrew Collins, such a god may have been called Ak. As the Lord of Misrule, his name had become rendered as Jack in such mischievous mythical sprites as Jack Frost, Jack-in-the-Box and Spring-heeled Jack . He may have been the equivalent of the Nordic god Loki . Loki was the trickster of the gods, and an effigy of him was burnt each year at the start of winter to stave off his unruly influence during the cold days ahead. The Celtic Ak may have given rise to the similar custom of 'smoking the fool'. In the Middle Ages an effigy of a fool, or jester, was burnt on a bonfire at the befinning of November in many parts of Britain. In fact, it is still, in the guise of Guy Fawkes ...it was fool-burning that evolved into 'Guy'-burning." The celebrations, which in the United Kingdom take place in towns and villages across the country, involve Fireworks displays and the building of Bonfire s, traditionally on which "guys", or dummies, representing Guy Fawkes , the most famous of the conspirators are burnt. Before the fifth, children use the dummies to beg for money with the chant "Penny for the guy", but the guy is now considered poor taste and is rarely used, with just the bonfire remaining. For centuries, live Cats were tied up and placed in the interiors of the effigies to make desirable Sound Effects as they burned. The practice of including cats is long discontinued. The night is closely associated with the popular rhyme which begins: :Remember, remember the fifth of November, :gunpowder, treason and plot, :I see no reason why gunpowder treason :should ever be forgot. The full rhyme, no longer used, continued: :Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, :'twas his intent :to blow up the King and the Parliament. :Three score barrels of powder below, :Poor old England to overthrow: :By God's providence he was catch'd :With a dark lantern and burning match. :Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring. :Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King! :Hip hip hoorah! These verses are usually left off modern day recitations of the poem: :A penny loaf to feed the Pope. :A farthing o' cheese to choke him. :A pint of beer to rinse it down. :A faggot of sticks to burn him. :Burn him in a tub of tar. :Burn him like a blazing star. :Burn his body from his head. :Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead. :Hip hip hoorah! :Hip hip hoorah! In New Zealand and perhaps elsewhere, this rhyme was often referred to as the title 'Please (to) remember the fifth of November' Despite the nature of the events commemorated, little political or Sectarian significance is attached to Bonfire Night in modern times. The later verses of "Remember, remember...", which express violent anti-Catholic sentiment, are not widely recalled. Bonfire night is now just as celebrated within the United Kingdom's Catholic communities. The once common practice of burning effigies of Guy Fawkes or the Pope is now largely discontinued (except at Lewes , where the night has additional significance). In the United Kingdom, there are several other regional traditions that accompany Guy Fawkes/Bonfire night: the eating of Bonfire Toffee , a dark type of toffee made with black Treacle ; Parkin , a cake made with the same black treacle; Toffee Apple s, the traditional 'apple lollipop', which consists of an apple coated in toffee on top of a stick; and Baked Potato es, which are wrapped in foil and cooked in the bonfire. Guy Fawkes Night (and the weekend closest to it) is the main night for both amateur and official Fireworks displays in the UK. Since about 2000 , Fireworks have been used widely in the weeks around Bonfire night, though they have always been available for the couple of months surrounding the 5th. Other festivals in the surrounding weeks, such as Diwali , impact on this. In Australia , Guy Fawkes Night (commonly called "cracker night" as a reference to the use of fireworks) was widely celebrated until the 1970s, but has now almost completely died out. This is partly because state governments banned the commercial sale of fireworks in the 1970s to prevent their misuse (many people used them to blow up letterboxes and other objects causing injury to others), and partly because of growing official disapproval of the anti-Catholic connotations of the night. TRIVIA T. S. Eliot references the Guy Fawkes night effigy in the opening lines of '' The Hollow Men '': "Mistah Kurtz–he dead, A penny for the Old Guy". It is also the subject of the song "Remember" by John Lennon , on the album '' John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band ''. The rhyme and the Gunpowder Plot are alluded to in V For Vendetta , a comic by Alan Moore . Consequently, the first line of the rhyme "Remember, remember, the fifth of November" is the tagline for the popular film, V For Vendetta based on the comic. An episode of the television show '' Daria '' depicts the spirit of Guy Fawkes Night looking and speaking exactly like Sid Vicious . It is speculated that Fawkes , Dumbledore 's pet phoenix in the Harry Potter series, is named in reference to Guy Fawkes Night. SEE ALSO |
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