What a Guy

“A penny for the guy!”

A phrase said on Guy Fawkes Day, by children collecting money for fireworks.

Curious minds want to know
Is it as a reminder or mockery
To set off fireworks
Commemorating a failed firework show

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Time we Fawkes Shit Up

Why are you stopping me
I’m doing you a favour
A day will come
When all will agree
That blowing up
British parliament
Is for the best

(After the last few years, I would not want to be anywhere near Westminster on November 5th)

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1605: The Gunpowder Plot conspirators, led by Robert Catesby, were zealous Roman Catholics enraged at King James I for refusing to grant greater religious tolerance to Catholics. They planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament (Palace of Westminster) during the state opening of Parliament, intending to kill the king and members of Parliament to clear the way to reestablish Catholic rule in England.

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Catholic principles:

You must turn the other cheek
Unless someone
Talks smack against the church
Then you must
put 36 barrels of gunpowder
Under their arses
And blow them all to hell

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Zappai: in the intent

a steadfast spirit
dedication to a cause
not always enough

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Parkin cake
A sticky cake
Made with sugar and meal
High heat is best
Then left to rest
(a description of the would-be victims’ ordeal?)

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The traditional cake eaten on bonfire night is Parkin Cake, a sticky cake containing a mix of oatmeal, ginger, treacle and syrup. Other foods include sausages cooked over the flames and marshmallows toasted in the fire.

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Senryü: relighting a dead fire

hate immortalized
effigies fuel the bonfire
holiday customs

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18th-century nursery rhyme
Author Unknown

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot.
We see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!

Guy Fawkes, guy, t’was his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England’s overthrow.

By god’s mercy he was catch’d
With a darkened lantern and burning match.
So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king.

And what shall we do with him?
Burn him!

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(Children sang this rhyme. Goes a long way to explaining the creepiness of English children)

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🎉 An explosive Guy Fawkes Day to all! 🎉

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