Opinion : Why do we remember the 5th November?
Once again another milestone in the year is upon up.
The Bank holidays, Easter and Halloween have all been and gone. Soon Guy Fawkes Night will be added to the list then it will be just Christmas to do then we will be facing another New Year.
By George! How time is flying by.
Of course Guy Fawkes Night is probably one of the most dangerous nights of the year when untrained citizens light bonfires and let off fireworks resulting in injuries, call outs for the fire brigade and an increase in the number of casualties attending A&E departments.
However Guy Fawkes Night has changed so much over the years.
Many years ago, when my good self was a youngster, we would make a guy out of old clothes and push him around the street in a barrow asking for ‘a penny for the Guy’.
Naturally my good self went to town with the dressing of the guy and always ensured he was dressed in a dinner jacket with a bow tie and a bowler hat.
The youngsters of today are far to pre-occupied with their computer games to get their hands dirty pushing a guy around the streets to beg for money.
Indeed the state handouts of today are more than sufficient to provide even the poorest parents in society with plenty of alcohol and cigarettes so a little money for few fireworks for the children is not too much to ask.
I fear that Guy Fawkes Night is fast becoming one of those occasions where people celebrate it but don’t quite know the reason why they are celebrating.
The other day yours truly asked a few friends why they think we celebrate on November 5th. Most said it was because Guy Fawkes was burnt on a bonfire. Well Sadly I fear they are wrong.
According to a leading internet encyclopaedia Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated because :
‘King James I had survived the attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London, and months later the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Act enforced an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot’s failure.‘
So we are celebrating the survival of King James I and not the fact that Guy Fawkes was burnt on a fire. Guy Fawkes actually died by hanging at The Tower of London like all the other Gun Powder Plot conspirators after first having their genitals cut off and burnt before their eyes.
So there we go. We are celebrating the survival of the Catholic King James I and not the way in which Guy Fawkes perished.
It’s a shame the 5th November Act isn’t still in force, it was repealed in March 1859.
Guy Fawkes was no more than a terrorist who, like all followers of Lucifer, are doomed to fail.
In the modern world in which we live I’m surprised the powers that be haven’t tried to put a modern spin on Guy Fawkes night and use it to mark all the terrorist plots of modern times that have failed.
It’s amazing that a terrorist like Guy Fawkes has a whole night named after him. Like all agents of terror, he should be consigned to burn in the furnaces of hell.
What do you think?
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