Who is Guy Fawkes?

All of you British readers who have read the title are like "I know that guy" but in reality the rest of the world needs to be enlightened. November 5th in the UK is a special day, with celebration, fireworks, bonfires, revelry, and renewed togetherness (word?) of the society. A holiday has been celebrated since 1605 when 13 young men thought that they would blow up the Parliment building in London by setting 36 barrels of gun powder underneath the House of Lords. While this sounded like a full proof plan, all but one of them ended up not being there and they were thinking twice about actually going through with it except for Guy, he was the one bloak caught with the 36 barrels in the cellar. He was then tried, found guilty of much, and excecuted. So that evening bonfires were set to celebrate that the King was still alive, and they placed effigies of Guy on the top as the bonfires burn. Sometime later fireworks were added to the celebration along with food, carnivals, and an overall great time. We went to the gala in Oxford, a few thousand people, carvinal rides, the silhouette of a man on top of a huge pile of stacked wood, colorful fireworks, the best tasting donuts I have ever consumed and two bites of a hamburger later meant that I had experienced Guy Fawkes night. It was somewhat surreal standing in the middle of a field watching fireworks and being bundled up like I was going Christmas caroling, last time I checked I usually watch fireworks on a hot, steamy July night. In all reality they are quite fun when you can see your breath, and my how the bonfire was toasty when it was lit after the fireworks show. I'll leave you with a quote that I didn't pen but found when Googling Guy Fawkes " 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" I thought that was a compelling way to put it. later
earl