Ok yeah I know there are few Brits on here but I was just wondering what people thought of Guy Fawkes Night. Put basically it is the day the Catholic Gun Powder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament was foiled. Is it right to celebrate this event? Is it really that special; we don't celebtrate every failed assasination :O What are you going to do, if anything? (please don't just spam this daying.... "nothing" etc.)
. Is it right to celebrate this event? Is it really that special; we don't celebtrate every failed assasination :O What are you going to do, if anything? (please don't just spam this daying.... "nothing" etc.)
I was pondering this actually. The reason it is celebrated was because it was encouraged by the King of the time, and appealed to the masses due to a wave of subsequent anti Catholic sentiment.
An interesting analogy to use is 911. If we had foiled the plot, would we celebrate 'Osama Bin Laden Night', and burn effigies of radical muslims? I think not, but it's interesting to draw the comparison nonetheless.
You Brits are odd and I've often wondered why Bonfire Night was celebrated. I can understand having some pretty cool bonfires and fireworks to hang around with friends and family. At first I thought it was some autumnal celebration, but then I found out it had to do with Guy Fawkes. Then I thought Guy Fawkes was some sort of folk hero... but he isn't. Right now, to me, it looks like Protestants vs. Catholics and the Protestants won.
I'm also thinking it's some reason to use fireworks (outside of Christmas and New Year's) because you guys don't have an Independence Day but that lacks base.
I think at the end of the day it is just a fun excuse for... fun. As far as the use of fireworks I've always assumed it was "you want a big-arse explosion? we'll show you an explosion". I do understand celebrating it... sort of; there have been so many assasination attempts I'm not sure why this one is special except the grand scale of the plan I suppose. But I think it is likely to be linked to the Catholic vs. Protestant (why it is celebrated not why it happened).
Lighting big, explosive Japanese fireworks in the back garden!
Dang right Love it.
I was pondering this actually. The reason it is celebrated was because it was encouraged by the King of the time, and appealed to the masses due to a wave of subsequent anti Catholic sentiment.
Interesting but after 400 odd years I fear tradition has been muddied... slightly lol.
Interesting but after 400 odd years I fear tradition has been muddied... slightly lol.
True, but we are constitutionally speaking still very anti Catholic. For example, it's still illegal for a member of the Royal Family to marry a Catholic.
You Brits are odd and I've often wondered why Bonfire Night was celebrated. I can understand having some pretty cool bonfires and fireworks to hang around with friends and family. At first I thought it was some autumnal celebration, but then I found out it had to do with Guy Fawkes. Then I thought Guy Fawkes was some sort of folk hero... but he isn't. Right now, to me, it looks like Protestants vs. Catholics and the Protestants won.
The Guy Fawkes aspect has died out a lot. November the 5th used to be much more of a big deal. People would go to great lengths creating decent looking effigies, asking for 'enny for the Guy' etc. It's been taken over by Halloween as the most significant autumnal celebration. Really it is, as you say, an excuse to have some fireworks. I see nothing wrong with the tradition, regardless of its origins, seeing as Catholicism simply isn't an issue anymore.
True, but we are constitutionally speaking still very anti Catholic. For example, it's still illegal for a member of the Royal Family to marry a Catholic.
I thought they changed that recently; or were they just thinking of changing it?
I thought they changed that recently; or were they just thinking of changing it?
Classic Gordon Brown. He picks an issue he thinks will be popular, promises to change it, and then, once the elctorate has forgotten it, he drops the policy and finds a new popular measure.
