Remember, Remember -it's officially November.

After a very warm October culminating with the hottest Halloween in UK history, autumn appears to have finally arrived. It is officially November and in a few days bonfire night will be celebrated throughout the country.

 

Many of our international students – or even home students for that matter- may not be aware for the reasons behind the 5^th of November celebration. So here is a brief history lesson:

In the year of 1605, when James I was king of the UK, many laws were passed that discriminated against Catholics in the country.

 

 

Many Catholics resented the law that forbade them to practise their religion in public.

 

On November 5^th a group of disgruntled Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, planned to blow up parliament and kill James I and all his MPs. They put barrels of gunpowder in a cellar underneath parliament and Guy Fawkes was in charge of lighting the fuse.

Before Guy had a chance to light the gunpowder, he was discovered by James I and the Gunpowder Plot was averted. After being tortured in the Tower of London, Guy Fawkes confessed and was hung along with his fellow conspirators. Their bodies were cut up and taken to the four corners of the UK to warn other people who were considering assassinating James I.

James I, delighted that he had survived the attempted assassination, wanted to celebrate and burnt replicas of Guy Fawlkes on a huge bonfire. Since then, Bonfire Night has remained a British Tradition.

There is also a famous English Folk verse that is used to commemorate 5^th of November:

Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes and his companions
Did the scheme contrive,
To blow the King and Parliament
All up alive.
Threescore barrels, laid below,
To prove old England's overthrow.
But, by God's providence, him they catch,
With a dark lantern, lighting a match!
A stick and a stake
For King James's sake!
If you won't give me one,
I'll take two,
The better for me,
And the worse for you.
A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,
A penn'orth of cheese to choke him,
A pint of beer to wash it down,
And a jolly good fire to burn him.
Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring!
Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King!
Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!

This November Milton Keynes will be celebrating Bonfire Night with a funfair in Campbell Park.