05 November 2004

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Or something. Neil Gaiman's comments made me laugh:
As a boy I wasn't sure whether we were meant to be celebrating Guy Fawkes as someone who tried to change the system by doing something about it, or whether it was just that the English love a good loser. When I grew up I realised that it was a thanksgiving for the fact that the Parliament had not been exploded. Still, Guy Fawkes has a day named after him, which is more than King James had (although James got a bible dedicated to him, of course).

Hee hee. Go have a bonfire and use up any fireworks left over from Hallowe'en.

3 comments:

Rowena Hart said...

My dad had a huge ugly scar across his nose and I never knew the story of it until my Uncle Joe came to visit and I asked him about the scar that he had across his nose.

Apparently, when they were kids, my dad and Uncle Joe took a long knife from their mother's cupboard and stole off to the fields to cut some kind of plant that burned really well (straw?) so they could build a Guy and celebrate Guy Fawkes Day. My dad was leaning down to collect the cuttings when my Uncle Joe wound up and took a swing at a handful of plants ... and hit dad on the nose with the knife.

A year later they were doing the same thing. Uncle Joe leaned down to collect some cuttings and dad took a swing at a handfull of plants ... and hit Uncle Joe on the nose with the knife. Talk about full circle.

I also remember doing a school assignment on Guy Fawkes in a class at Belmont called Civilization 12. For the assignment my dad recalled with some fondness of going 'round the commons begging a "Penny for the Guy", which was sort of like gettting a "Trick or Treat" on Hallowe'en.

Thanks for reminding me that it's Guy Fawkes Day. Where's an effigy to burn when you need one?

Unknown said...

There used to be a scarecrow in our garden, that the previous owners left behind. To bad we didn't keep it; it would have been perfect.

Sue said...

Didn't we burn the scarecrow last fall? I seem to remember you saying we should save him for Nov 5th but it was too late . . .