Remember, remember the fifth of November, gun powder, treason and plot. These words will be familiar to most people as a traditional bonfire night rhyme (or a line from V for Vendetta, but we won’t get into that, yet).

The reason we mark November 5 originates from the gunpowder plot in 1605. This was a failed attempt by a group of English Catholics to assassinate King James I, who was a Protestant.

Catholics at the time were being heavily prosecuted, so 13 Catholics banded together in rebellion.

The leader of the group, Guy Fawkes, was arrested after being found with barrels of gunpowder under the House of Lords, where the King would have been at the time.

Echo:

Gundpowder plot parliment cellar

After the plot had failed, a new rule was put into place that a Catholic couldn’t become King or Queen, which is still a law to do this date. This isn’t the only slightly outdated tradition to come from this as, whenever a new Parliamentary session is opened, the basement is searched to make sure no-one is plotting or hiding there.

However, from this many fun traditions were also spawned, the first being the lighting of the bonfire. After Guy Fawkes’ arrest, the public were encouraged to celebrate the king’s survival of the assassination attempt with the bonfires.

In January, 1606 – just before Fawkes’ co-conspirators were hanged – November 5 was made an official day of thanksgiving after it was suggested the King had survived by divine intervention, and so it was officially a day to be kept free, other than for church attendance.

Since it had become a religious day, and All Hallows Eve had taken over the date of the traditional Celtic festival of welcoming the darker months, called Samhain, the Protestant Church also decided to see this as their own equivalent to the pagan event.

Up until 1959, it was actually illegal not to celebrate Bonfire Night in the UK, due to its official status of a day of rest.

People slowly changed the celebrations, eventually starting to place effigies of Guy Fawkes on top of their fires, a tradition still held today, along with the “Penny for a Guy” collections and fireworks displays – marking what could have happened if Fawkes had succeeded.

In modern times, Guy Fawkes has almost become synonymous with social justice and fighting against the establishment. So much so that the film set in a dystopian future, V for Vendetta, saw the main character use Guy Fawkes masks and reiterate the “Remember, remember” rhyme.

The mask has also been taken on by “social hactivist” group Anonymous, as a sign that they’re fighting against the powers that be.

Echo:

While everyone knows “remember, remember” there was an earlier version of the rhyme, dating back to 1742. It goes:

Don’t you Remember, The Fifth of November, ‘Twas Gunpowder Treason Day, I let off my gun, And made’em all run.

And Stole all their Bonfire away.