Today, November 5, is celebrated throughout the British Isles and other countries with a British link in history, as Guy Fawkes Day. You can Google the entire history of the attempt, in the early 1600s, to blow up Parliament and kill the king. My west coast brother made me aware of this celebration/commemoration while speculating as to why a bunch of dissatisfied citizens wanted to blow up the House of Commons. My brother thought that it might have been because they were irritated with their representatives for not being able to agree on whether or not to adopt daylight savings time. That sounded reasonable to me, but I discovered with a little reading that it was the Catholics revolting against King James (the one of Bible fame) for some restrictions placed on them. The event is actually a celebration of the defeat of the rebellion. Guy Fawkes was one of many rebels caught and executed. Not sure why he got the dubious honor of having the event named after him. You will have to read the history more thoroughly to find that answer. But evidently the whole thing involves lots of bonfires and burnings in effigy of poor Guy. What a way to be remembered.
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