Guy Fawkes, the original Bin Ladin

(more commonly known as Bonfire Night and sometimes Fireworks Night) is an annual celebration on the evening of the 5th of November. It celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November 1605 in which a number of Roman Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

Festivities are centred around the use of fireworks and the lighting of bonfires... with the (missing from wikipedia) burning effigies of Guy Fawkes!

This night in the British Isles is like the 4th of July - with the exception that they celebrate that they still have their system of government.


When I was last there, I went with my Yank buddy to the center of Trafalgar's Square. We took 40's of, well, whatever we found at the 7-11 in Piccadilly Circus. The explosions of fireworks over the 6-7 story buildings couldn't be seen - as fireworks. Rather, they looked more like what I imagined the Blitz would have been like. As Yanks, and being in London - no one really explained what Guy Fawkes night was. But, being adventurous and not one to stay in and study, we went out to see what all the commotion was about.

Not really finding any Brits (a common theme in my time in Westminster) we just decided to make a party out of the silliness. For some reason we made our way on to the Queen's property and were immediately chased down by the local police. Armed - and armed police in England is rare - with automatic machine guns - we sobered up and answered their pleasant if not quick questions as to what we were doing on the Queen's property.

As soon as we spoke, the bobbies instinctively understood that we were dumb ass punk Yanks, who were just looking for a party. I didn't say they were wrong.

They chatted us up for a moment - and off we were, looking for the next adventure or one of the many bonfires we were told about. Surprisingly, we were either too loaded to find a bonfire, or there weren't too many in the heart of the shopping district of London... either way, I don't remember watching a bonfire.

I do remember English police with weaponry.

And hearing about the story of Guy Fawkes.