Guy Fawkes Night originates from the
Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a failed conspiracy by a group of provincial English
Catholics to assassinate the
Protestant King
James I of England and VI of Scotland and replace him with a Catholic head of state. In the immediate aftermath of the 5 November arrest of
Guy Fawkes, caught guarding a cache of explosives placed beneath the
House of Lords, James's Council allowed the public to celebrate the king's survival with
bonfires, so long as they were "without any danger or disorder". This made 1605 the first year the plot's failure was celebrated. The following January, days before the surviving conspirators were executed, Parliament, at the initiation of James I, passed the
Observance of 5th November Act 1605, commonly known as the "Thanksgiving Act". It was proposed by a Puritan Member of Parliament,
Edward Montagu, who suggested that the king's apparent deliverance by divine intervention deserved some measure of official recognition, and kept 5 November free as a day of thanksgiving while in theory making attendance at church mandatory. A new form of service was also added to the
Church of England's
Book of Common Prayer, for use on that date. Little is known about the earliest celebrations. In settlements such as
Carlisle,
Norwich, and
Nottingham, corporations (town governments) provided music and artillery salutes.
Canterbury celebrated 5 November 1607 with of gunpowder and of
match, and three years later food and drink was provided for local dignitaries, as well as music, explosions, and a parade by the local militia. Even less is known of how the occasion was first commemorated by the general public, although records indicate that in the Protestant stronghold of
Dorchester a sermon was read, the church bells rung, and bonfires and fireworks lit.
Early significance According to historian and author
Antonia Fraser, a study of the earliest sermons preached demonstrates an anti-Catholic concentration "mystical in its fervour". Delivering one of five 5 November sermons printed in
A Mappe of Rome in 1612,
Thomas Taylor spoke of the "generality of his [a papist's] cruelty", which had been "almost without bounds". Such messages were also spread in printed works such as Francis Herring's
Pietas Pontifica (republished in 1610 as
Popish Piety), and John Rhode's
A Brief Summe of the Treason intended against the King & State, which in 1606 sought to educate "the simple and ignorant ... that they be not seduced any longer by papists". By the 1620s the Fifth was honoured in market towns and villages across the country, though it was some years before it was commemorated throughout England. Gunpowder Treason Day, as it was then known, became the predominant English state commemoration. Some parishes made the day a festive occasion, with public drinking and solemn processions. Concerned though about James's pro-Spanish foreign policy, the decline of international Protestantism, and Catholicism in general, Protestant clergymen who recognised the day's significance called for more dignified and profound thanksgivings each 5 November. What unity English Protestants had shared in the plot's immediate aftermath began to fade when in 1625 James's son, the future
Charles I, married the Catholic
Henrietta Maria of France. Puritans reacted to the marriage by issuing a new prayer to warn against rebellion and Catholicism, and on 5 November that year, effigies of the pope and the devil were burnt, the earliest such report of this practice and the beginning of centuries of tradition. During Charles's reign Gunpowder Treason Day became increasingly partisan. Between 1629 and 1640 he ruled without Parliament, and he seemed to support
Arminianism, regarded by Puritans such as
Henry Burton as a step toward Catholicism. By 1636, under the leadership of the Arminian Archbishop of Canterbury
William Laud, the English church was trying to use 5 November to denounce all seditious practices, and not just popery. Puritans went on the defensive, some pressing for further
reformation of the Church. A display in 1647 at
Lincoln's Inn Fields commemorated "God's great mercy in delivering this kingdom from the hellish plots of papists", and included fireballs burning in the water (symbolising a Catholic association with "
infernal spirits") and fireboxes, their many rockets suggestive of "popish spirits coming from below" to enact plots against the king. Effigies of Fawkes and the pope were present, the latter represented by
Pluto, Roman god of the underworld. Following Charles I's execution in 1649, the country's new republican regime remained undecided on how to treat 5 November. Unlike the old system of religious feasts and State anniversaries, it survived, but as a celebration of parliamentary government and Protestantism, and not of monarchy. demanding money from coach occupants for alcohol and bonfires. The burning of effigies, largely unknown to the
Jacobeans, continued in 1673 when Charles's brother, the
Duke of York, converted to Catholicism. In response, accompanied by a procession of about 1,000 people, the apprentices fired an effigy of the
Whore of Babylon, bedecked with a range of papal symbols. Similar scenes occurred over the following few years. On 17 November 1677, anti-Catholic fervour saw the
Accession Day marked by the burning of a large effigy of the pope – his belly filled with live cats "who squalled most hideously as soon as they felt the fire" – and two effigies of devils "whispering in his ear". Two years later, as the
exclusion crisis reached its zenith, an observer noted that "the 5th at night, being gunpowder treason, there were many bonfires and burning of popes as has ever been seen". Violent scenes in 1682 forced London's militia into action, and to prevent any repetition the following year a proclamation was issued, banning bonfires and fireworks. Fireworks were also banned under
James II (previously the Duke of York), who became king in 1685. Attempts by the government to tone down Gunpowder Treason Day celebrations were, however, largely unsuccessful, and some reacted to a ban on bonfires in London (born from a fear of more burnings of the pope's effigy) by placing candles in their windows, "as a witness against Catholicism". When James was deposed in 1688 by
William of Orange – who, importantly, landed in England on 5 November – the day's events turned also to the celebration of freedom and religion, with elements of anti-
Jacobitism. While the earlier ban on bonfires was politically motivated, a ban on fireworks was maintained for safety reasons, "much mischief having been done by
squibs".
Guy Fawkes Day , printed in November that year. William III's birthday fell on 4 November, and for orthodox
Whigs the two days therefore became an important double anniversary. William ordered that the thanksgiving service for 5 November be amended to include thanks for his "happy arrival" and "the Deliverance of our Church and Nation". In the 1690s he re-established Protestant rule in Ireland, and the Fifth, occasionally marked by the ringing of church bells and civic dinners, was consequently eclipsed by his birthday commemorations. From the 19th century, 5 November celebrations there became
sectarian in nature. (Its celebration in
Northern Ireland remains controversial, unlike in Scotland where bonfires continue to be lit in various cities.) In England though, as one of 49 official holidays, for the ruling class 5 November became overshadowed by events such as the birthdays of
Admiral Edward Vernon, or
John Wilkes, and under
George II and
George III, with the exception of the
Jacobite Rising of 1745, it was largely "a polite entertainment rather than an occasion for vitriolic thanksgiving". For the lower classes, however, the anniversary was a chance to pit disorder against order, a pretext for violence and uncontrolled revelry. In 1790
The Times reported instances of children "begging for money for Guy Faux", and a report of 4 November 1802 described how "a set of idle fellows ... with some horrid figure dressed up as a
Guy Faux" were convicted of begging and receiving money, and committed to prison as "idle and disorderly persons". The Fifth became "a polysemous occasion, replete with polyvalent cross-referencing, meaning all things to all men". Lower class rioting continued, with reports in
Lewes of annual rioting, intimidation of "respectable householders" and the rolling through the streets of lit tar barrels. In
Guildford, gangs of revellers who called themselves "guys" terrorised the local population; proceedings were concerned more with the settling of old arguments and general mayhem, than any historical reminiscences. Similar problems arose in
Exeter, originally the scene of more traditional celebrations. In 1831 an effigy was burnt of the new
Bishop of Exeter Henry Phillpotts, a
High Church Anglican and
High Tory who opposed
parliamentary reform, and who was also suspected of being involved in "creeping popery". A local ban on fireworks in 1843 was largely ignored, and attempts by the authorities to suppress the celebrations resulted in violent protests and several injured constables. , November 1962, stand with their Guy Fawkes effigy. The sign reads "Penny for the Guy" in
Welsh. On several occasions during the 19th century
The Times reported that the tradition was in decline, being "of late years almost forgotten", but in the opinion of historian
David Cressy, such reports reflected "other
Victorian trends", including a lessening of Protestant religious zeal—not general observance of the Fifth. The traditional denunciations of Catholicism had been in decline since the early 18th century, and were thought by many, including
Queen Victoria, to be outdated, Effigies of the 12 new English Catholic bishops were paraded through Exeter, already the scene of severe public disorder on each anniversary of the Fifth. Gradually, however, such scenes became less popular. With little resistance in Parliament, the thanksgiving prayer of 5 November contained in the Anglican
Book of Common Prayer was abolished, and in March 1859 the
Anniversary Days Observance Act repealed the
Observance of 5th November Act 1605. As the authorities dealt with the worst excesses, public decorum was gradually restored. The sale of fireworks was restricted, and the Guildford "guys" were neutralized in 1865, although this was too late for one constable, who died of his wounds. Violence continued in Exeter for some years, peaking in 1867 when, incensed by rising
food prices and banned from firing their customary bonfire, a mob was twice in one night driven from
Cathedral Close by armed infantry. Further riots occurred in 1879, but there were no more bonfires in Cathedral Close after 1894. Elsewhere,
sporadic instances of public disorder persisted late into the 20th century, accompanied by large numbers of firework-related accidents, but a national
Firework Code and improved public safety has in most cases brought an end to such things.
Songs, Guys and later developments One notable aspect of the Victorians' commemoration of Guy Fawkes Night was its move away from the centres of communities, to their margins. Gathering wood for the bonfire increasingly became the province of working-class children, who solicited combustible materials, money, food and drink from wealthier neighbours, often with the aid of songs. Most opened with the familiar "Remember, remember, the fifth of November, Gunpowder Treason and Plot". The earliest recorded rhyme, from 1742, is reproduced below alongside one bearing similarities to most Guy Fawkes Night ditties, recorded in 1903 at
Charlton on Otmoor: near
Dudley, on 6 November 2010 Organised entertainments also became popular in the late 19th century, and 20th-century pyrotechnic manufacturers renamed Guy Fawkes Day as Firework Night. Sales of fireworks dwindled somewhat during the
First World War, but resumed in the following peace. At the start of the
Second World War celebrations were again suspended, resuming in November 1945. For many families, Guy Fawkes Night became a domestic celebration, and children often congregated on street corners, accompanied by their own effigy of Guy Fawkes. This was sometimes ornately dressed and sometimes a barely recognisable bundle of rags stuffed with whatever filling was suitable. A survey found that in 1981 about 23 per cent of
Sheffield schoolchildren made Guys, sometimes weeks before the event. Collecting money was a popular reason for their creation, the children taking their effigy from door to door, or displaying it on street corners. But mainly, they were built to go on the bonfire, itself sometimes comprising wood stolen from other pyres—"an acceptable convention" that helped bolster another November tradition,
Mischief Night. Rival gangs competed to see who could build the largest, sometimes even burning the wood collected by their opponents; in 1954 the
Yorkshire Post reported on fires late in September, a situation that forced the authorities to remove latent piles of wood for safety reasons. Lately, however, the custom of begging for a "penny for the Guy" has almost completely disappeared. and since 1679 Lewes has been the setting of some of England's most extravagant 5 November celebrations, the
Lewes Bonfire. Generally, modern 5 November celebrations are run by local charities and other organisations, with paid admission and controlled access. In 1998 an editorial in the
Catholic Herald called for the end of "Bonfire Night", labelling it "an offensive act". Author
Martin Kettle, writing in
The Guardian in 2003, bemoaned an "occasionally nannyish" attitude to fireworks that discourages people from holding firework displays in their back gardens, and an "unduly sensitive attitude" toward the anti-Catholic sentiment once so prominent on Guy Fawkes Night. David Cressy summarised the modern celebration with these words: "The rockets go higher and burn with more colour, but they have less and less to do with memories of the Fifth of November ... it might be observed that Guy Fawkes' Day is finally declining, having lost its connection with politics and religion. But we have heard that many times before." In 2012 the BBC's Tom de Castella concluded:
Similarities with other customs Historians have noted similarities with
All Hallows' Eve (31 October), the
Celtic festival of
Samhain or
Calan Gaeaf (1 November), and
Martinmas (11 November), and have suggested that Guy Fawkes Night served as a Protestant replacement for these. In
The Golden Bough, the Scottish anthropologist
James George Frazer suggested that Guy Fawkes Day exemplifies "the recrudescence of old customs in modern shapes".
David Underdown, writing in his 1987 work
Revel, Riot, and Rebellion, viewed Gunpowder Treason Day as a replacement for Hallowe'en: "just as the early church had taken over many of the pagan feasts, so did Protestants acquire their own rituals, adapting older forms or providing substitutes for them". While the use of bonfires to mark the occasion was most likely taken from the ancient practice of lighting celebratory bonfires, the idea that the commemoration of 5 November 1605 ever originated from anything other than the safety of James I is, according to David Cressy, "speculative nonsense". Citing Cressy's work,
Ronald Hutton agrees with his conclusion, writing, "There is, in brief, nothing to link the Hallowe'en fires of North Wales,
Man, and central Scotland with those which appeared in England upon 5 November." Further confusion arises in Northern Ireland, where some communities celebrate Guy Fawkes Night; the distinction there between the Fifth and Halloween is not always clear. Despite such disagreements, in 2005
David Cannadine commented on the encroachment into British culture of late 20th-century American Hallowe'en celebrations, and their effect on Guy Fawkes Night: In Northern Ireland, bonfires are lit on the
Eleventh Night (11 July) by
Ulster Protestants. Folklorist
Jack Santino notes that the Eleventh Night is "thematically similar to Guy Fawkes Night in that it celebrates the establishment and maintenance of the Protestant state". Another celebration involving fireworks, the five-day
Hindu festival of
Diwali (normally observed between mid-October and November), in 2010 began on 5 November. This led
The Independent to comment on the similarities between the two, its reporter Kevin Rawlinson wondering "which fireworks will burn brightest". == In other countries ==