Guy Fawkes Day
November 5
The Gunpowder Plot
\”A penny for the Guy! A penny for the Guy!” The merry shouts of
children asking for money echo up and down the streets. And with them
they have \”the Guy,” a straw dummy dressed in old clothes. Many of the
children are wearing costumes and masks.
It is November 5, and people in England are celebrating a holiday called
Guy Fawkes Day.
Nearly four hundred years ago, in 1605, a man named Guy Fawkes tried to
blow up a government building. He wanted to kill King James I and the
king’s leaders. Fawkes was one of a group of men who felt that the
government was treating Roman Catholics unfairly.
The king and his leaders were to meet on November 5. So, the group
placed barrels of gunpowder in a cellar beneath the building where the
king and others were to meet. Guy Fawkes was to light the fuse that
would set off the explosion. But the plot was discovered before he had a
chance to do this. The king was saved, and Guy Fawkes was hanged.
Ever since, Guy Fawkes Day has been a time for merrymaking. It is a
holiday that both children and grown-ups enjoy. The best part comes as
darkness falls. Then, straw dummies of Guy Fawkes are tossed onto huge
bonfires. Amid cries of glee, firecrackers pop and \”the Guy” goes up in
a blaze of fire.
