Arrest of Guy Fawkes at the Houses of Parliament
5th Nov 1605, Getty
Why was Guy Fawkes Night so popular? The first reason was the spectacular nature of the event that it commemorated. Had the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 succeeded, it would have killed much of the English political nation, including some of the royal family, aristocracy and leading gentry, as well as demolishing Westminster Palace & the Abbey. They intended to overthrow the existing monarch & government, and to end Protestant dominance. In its place the plotters planned to restore the Roman Catholic religion and re-enthrone a Catholic royal.
Secondly many citizens believed the government message that this had only been averted by divine good luck: thus an explosion of relief.The newly Protestant nation was remarkably bare of regular festivity. So the third reason for the event’s success was the return to a very rich festive calendar of religious and secular seasonal celebration enjoyed in Merry England’s Middle Ages but ended with the Reformation. The plot’s failure provided a major annual opportunity for merrymaking. And November was the onset of winter, when spirits needed lifting.
The result was a combination of benefits, combining patriotism, communal solidarity and a instinctive seasonal need to produce a yearly festival of emotion and flexibility.
A day of remembrance came with an Act of Parliament early in 1606 (repealed in 1859). It required that every 5th Nov a sermon be preached in every parish church, commemorating God’s delivery from the terrifying Catholic threat. The deliverance of James I from assassination had to be celebrated in Anglican services since there was a need to firmly establish Britain as a strong Protestant nation in the face of Catholic threats from overseas, and at home. Compulsory Gunpowder sermons gave citizens their “annual inoculation” against the “Popery Disease”.
By making 5th Nov a part of religious culture, the event remained in the public mind and spilled over into the much loved bonfires and firework displays. But given today’s secular modernity, why does an event so rooted in an antiquated religious controversy remain important, even if the event itself no longer carries the same meaning?
Many of these sermons survived in print. Yet it was clear almost from the beginning that the thanksgiving in church was accompanied by more secular, civic celebrations in towns and cities: bonfires, fireworks and distribution of drink to citizens. Australia only stopped in the late 1970s, on safety grounds.
By the C19th, the celebrations were appropriated by working-class communities in defiance of the orderly values of the urban elite. It was also in the C19th that Guy Fawkes became the figure regularly burned in effigy on bonfires, although later periods of crisis could encourage other, more contemporary brutes being burned.
Even when the bonfires lost their sectarian spark, they still charged the collective imagination. They amplified protest, excused rowdiness and reinforced parish unity, as well as remembering the near annihilation of the Establishment. Now historians ask how are terror networks created and sustained? What price nationalism? What cost security?
21st century
The most important reason for the holiday’s survival has been its very adaptability. And not just in Britain.
Anonymous, founded on-line in 2003, operated as a leaderless hacktivist group made of up of anons around the world. Guy Fawkes became an unofficial mascot for the group, which aimed to shed light on corrupt government and to free people from oppression. The main character in the comic book series V for Vendetta wore a Guy Fawkes mask. This character was often associated with protests against authority, making it a perfect fit for Anonymous. The group used Guy Fawkes Night as a time for action, holding the annual Million Mask March to bring attention to its causes.
Even when the bonfires lost their sectarian spark, they still charged the collective imagination. They amplified protest, excused rowdiness and reinforced parish unity, as well as remembering the near annihilation of the Establishment. Now historians ask how are terror networks created and sustained? What price nationalism? What cost security?
21st century
The most important reason for the holiday’s survival has been its very adaptability. And not just in Britain.
Anonymous, founded on-line in 2003, operated as a leaderless hacktivist group made of up of anons around the world. Guy Fawkes became an unofficial mascot for the group, which aimed to shed light on corrupt government and to free people from oppression. The main character in the comic book series V for Vendetta wore a Guy Fawkes mask. This character was often associated with protests against authority, making it a perfect fit for Anonymous. The group used Guy Fawkes Night as a time for action, holding the annual Million Mask March to bring attention to its causes.
Anonymous protest, in Brussels
2012, Wiki
Occupy Vienna 2021
Reuters
In 2021 anti-establishment and anti-vaxxer protesters wore Guy Fawkes masks as they made their way across London tonight setting of rockets, flares and fireworks. The annual march is in its 9th year and sees protesters rallying against the government rules and more recently lockdown restrictions, mask wearing and vaccinations.
Protesters set Boris Johnson effigies alight in Trafalgar Square as well as lighting fireworks. A crowd watched, yelling: burn, Boris, burn. The Metropolitan police were forced to erect barricades across the city and to deploy officers in riot gear; it was very dangerous.
In 2021, Guy Fawkes’ devilish moustache and thin goatee also showed up in Latin America, North America, Europe, South Korea and Hong Kong. The mask had been adopted as the talisman for a new disaffected generation who were raging against corporate greed, increasing economic inequality, the police and Covid vaccination programmes. Asked why this particular mask was so popular, protesters said it was because it had become an international symbol for rebellion and anonymity.