Honestly, I don’t understand this holiday very well. I’ve asked that it be explained several times now, and I still don’t quite get it. Anything burned in effigy seems more like a protest than a party to me, but that may just be my American roots showing. I suppose it is the same as Dia De Los Muertos—if can sound morbid if not explained in context.
Anyways, I hope everyone in the UK has a great and safe bonfire, and have a bite of parkin for me!
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Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the House of Lords as part of a Catholic plot to assassinate the Protestant King James. He filled a basement room with gunpowder, but was betrayed and caught. The rhyme goes:
Remember, remember the 5th of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
We build a 'guy' out of old clothes and straw (like a scarecrow) and wheel him through the street calling for a 'penny for the guy'. The money was usually used for buying fireworks to set off at the bonfire.
The guy made his journey through town until he reached the bonfire site where he was tied to a stake and burned on the fire. So yes, it is an effigy, burned to remind people what happens to those guilty of treason.
Hope that helps.
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