Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States of America and Canada. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. It is a family day, celebrated with big dinners and happy reunions. American people have turkey, pumpkin pie and Indian corn. They go to holiday parades and watch football games on TV. But most importantly, they thank God for all the good things in their lives.
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot.
We see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes, guy, t'was his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England's overthrow.
By god's mercy he was catch'd
With a darkened lantern and burning match.
So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king.
In 1605, thirteen young men planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Among them was Guy Fawkes, Britain's most notorious traitor.
After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, English Catholics who had been persecuted
under her rule had hoped that her successor, James I, would be more
tolerant of their religion. James I had, after all, had a Catholic mother. Unfortunately,
James did not turn out to be more tolerant than Elizabeth and a number
of young men, 13 to be exact, decided that violent action was the answer.
A small group took shape, under the leadership of Robert Catesby. Catesby felt
that violent action was warranted. Indeed, the thing to do was to blow up the Houses of Parliament. In doing so,
they would kill the King, maybe even the Prince of Wales, and the Members
of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics. Today these
conspirators would be known as extremists, or terrorists. To
carry out their plan, the conspirators got
hold of 36 barrels of gunpowder - and stored them in a cellar, just under
the House of Lords.
But as the group worked on the plot, it became clear
that innocent people would be hurt or killed in the attack, including some people
who even fought for more rights for Catholics. Some of the plotters started having second thoughts. One of
the group members even sent an anonymous letter warning his friend, Lord
Monteagle, to stay away from the Parliament on November 5th.
The warning letter reached the King, and the King's forces made plans to
stop the conspirators. Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar of
the parliament with the 36 barrels of gunpowder when the authorities stormed
it in the early hours of November 5th, was caught, tortured and executed.
It's unclear if the conspirators would ever have been able to pull off
their plan to blow up the Parliament even if they had not been betrayed. Some
have suggested that the gunpowder itself was so old as
to be useless. Since Guy Fawkes and the other conspirators got caught before trying
to ignite the powder, we'll never know for certain.
On the very night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, on November
5th, 1605, bonfires were set alight to celebrate the safety of the
King.
Since then, November 5th has become known as Bonfire
Night. The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning
effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.
Some of the English have been known to wonder, in a tongue in cheek kind of way, whether they are celebrating
Fawkes' execution or honoring his attempt to do away with the government.