Guy Fawkes Day 2023 in the UK

Is Guy Fawkes Day a Public Holiday in the UK?

Guy Fawkes Day is not a public holiday according to Holidays 2023 in the United Kingdom. Organisations have normal working hours.

What is Guy Fawkes Famous For?

Guy Fawkes, also known as Guifo Fawkes was a member of an organisation of English Provincial Catholics. His estimated dates are 3 April 1570 to 31 January 1506. He was affiliated with a group of English Catholics who plotted the infamous Gunpowder plot which was initiated in the year 1605. Under this plot, an assassination plot was set up against James I. He was introduced to Robert Catesby by Thomas Wintour. Robert Catesby was the same person who hatched the whole assassination plot so as to bring back or restore a monarch who followed Catholicism as James I happend to be a Puritan.

Fawkes was given the responsibility to safeguard the explosives which were collected to blow up the House of Lords. However, fate had some other plans as the authorities were given an anonymous tip to conduct a raid of the Westminster Palace on 5th November. During the early hours of this particular day, they found Fawkes safeguarding the whole collection of explosives. Over the next few days, he was thoroughly interrogated and he finally confessed that he was set up to blow up the house of Lords. Guilty, he was ordered to be hanged till death, but he got away with his execution by falling off the Scaffold. Ever since then, Guy Fawkes’ name has become synonymous with the GunPowder plot.

Why is Guy Fawkes Day Celebrated?

If Guy Fawkes was a person deployed to blow up the house of Commons and assassinate James I, then why is the day named after him celebrated with so much energy and joyousness? Questions like this have definitely crossed the minds of many. Actually, Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated on the same day on which the Gunpowder plot was hatched to mark its failure. As a matter of fact that the king survived this assasination attempt, his council began some majestic celebrations which included bonfires too. Hence, it also came to be known as Bonfire Night. In the upcoming decades, the population of UK also witnessed some anti-Catholic rhetorics which became a part of the narrative along with the Bonfire night celebrations, which toned down eventually.

Special Highlights of Guy Fawkes Day

As it has been mentioned, bonfires, fireworks, parades are majorly witnessed on this day. Apart from this, there are also some other highlights of this festival, which are mentioned below.

1. Effigies of Guy Fawkes are burnt on the bonfire night.
2. The Guy Fawkes mask is also used on the effigies of Guy Fawkes which are prepared to emulate on the bonfire night.
3. Guy Fawkes Day food includes a traditional Parkin Cake which is baked out of special ingredients. It is a sticky cake which contains a mixture of treacle, oatmeal, ginger and syrup.
4. “Penny for the Guy” is a tradition followed on this day. Children take their homemade guys(effigies) out on the streets and ask for pennies for them. It is done before the bonfire night arrives.
5. Several traditional verses are also recited on the Bonfire night. A special Guy Fawkes poem goes by the line “ Remember, Remember, the fifth of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot”.
6. Torch Lit processions are also a common scenario on this day.
7. In Ottery St Mary, men who are quite hard working carry barrels of flaming tar on their shoulders. When it becomes too hot for one man to handle the 50-pound barrel, another one takes the lead to take it from him. This keeps going on until the fire goes off and the barrel reduces to ashes and nothing else.

Guy Fawkes in Popular Culture

Guy Fawkes has also found some significant representation in popular culture. He can be taken as a major inspiration for the character of “V”, a political vigilante, who appeared in the movie, “ V for Vendetta” , released in the year 2006. This movie has a very relevant connection with Guy Fawkes, as the protagonist also plans to blow up the house of the Parliament on 5 November only, who also roams around the city wearing a Guy Fawkes mask.

In the year 2017, BBC released a mini series called “Gunpowder” which starred the Games of Thrones fame actor Kit Harrington. He was seen playing the role of Robert Catesby and Guy Fawkes was adorned by Tom Cullen, quite a celebrated and award winning Welsh actor.

John Lenon, peace activist and a member of the evergreen “Beatles” and his first ever song ended with the lines, “ Remember, Remember, the fifth of November”, which was eventually followed by a sound of explosion. It can be said that he sought some kind of inspiration from the traditional verses of English poetry attributed to Guy Fawkes.

Guy Fawkes Day Observances

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