Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated in England every year on November 5th. It’s also known as Bonfire Night and Fireworks Night. It commemorates the thwarted attempt in 1605, known as the Gunpowder Plot, to assassinate King James I and destroy the Houses of Parliament. Guy Fawkes was the first person arrested in the conspiracy and that’s why it’s named after him.
Celebrating the failure of the plot, people lit bonfires around London. November 5th became a public day and people were asked to build bonfires every year on that night… instead of the traditional ones that had been lit for Halloween.
Nowadays, people make effigies of Guy Fawkes (using old clothes and straw) and throw them on the bonfires. They also light fireworks.
Traditional Guy Fawkes Night foods are Parkin Cake (recipe here), bonfire toffee (recipe here), and black peas. Sausages, potatoes (wrapped in foil) and marshmallows are also roasted over the bonfire.
You can learn some Guy Fawkes Night Rhymes here and read more about the history of Guy Fawkes Night here.
Enjoy!
Mama Lisa
Image: Wikipedia (cc)
PS Please feel free to share your favorite Guy Fawkes songs, rhymes or recipes in the comments below.
This article was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2015 at 7:45 pm and is filed under Bonfire Night, Bonfires, British Children's Songs, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Customs and Traditions, England, English, English Children's Songs, Guy Fawkes Day Songs, Guy Fawkes Night, Holiday Recipes, Holidays Around the World, Languages, Recipes of the World, United Kingdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
4 Responses to “Guy Fawkes Night”
Leave a Reply
November 22nd, 2015 at 10:28 pm
i love your website i look at it all the time my kid when she gets home runs to the computer and looks at what you done we love it so munch thank you
December 3rd, 2015 at 9:38 pm
I love England’s children’s songs and carols, especially Hark the Herald Angels sing!
October 7th, 2016 at 1:35 pm
Remember remember the 5th of November,
gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot!
An old traditional rhyme that most English schoolchildren were taught.
March 26th, 2017 at 10:06 pm
Religion in 16th and 17th century England was taken much more seriously than it is today largely because the Reformation was relatively recent and because the Spanish Armada was such a serious threat to both civil and religious freedom in England. In Lewes, Sussex, barrels of flaming tar are rolled down hills and effigies of the Pope and sometimes of contemporary figures of dislike and contempt such as Bin Laden and Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party leader seen as a threat to the United Kingdom) are burnt on November 5th as well as that of Guy Fawkes.
In the city of Londonderry each year on 18th December, an effigy of Robert Lundy, the Governor of the city during the siege of 1689 is burned with great ceremony. Lundy was considered a traitor to the cause of protestantism and the new English Monarch, William III.