A Penny for the Guy

Just outside the Tower Hill Tube Stop in London is a sculpture that details major milestones in the city's history, each illustrated in bronze relief on a huge ring in the ground. Today's picture shows Guy Fawkes from that sculpture. Tonight in England is Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night - November 5th.

Back in 1605, a group of men were so upset with the British Government that they hatched a plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Thirty six barrels of gunpowder were placed under the House of Lords - and one of the men, Guy Fawkes, was caught with the matches. The English people lit bonfires to celebrate the safety of the king, and Fawkes was tortured and executed (hung, drawn and quartered).

Commemoration of the event lives on in yearly festivities. In the weeks leading to Bonfire Night, effigies of Guy Fawkes are created. Back when I was a youngster, some of Dad's old clothes would be sacrificed to the project, and perhaps an old pillowcase or two from Mum's linen closet to stuff as a body. If you made a particularly good "Guy" you hauled him to the local shops and sat with him, asking passersby for "A penny for the Guy" - hoping that your artwork was worth the tip of a coin or two. Finally, on Bonfire Night, the Guy is placed atop a bonfire and torched. Backyard fireworks round out the pyrotechnics.

Anarchist posters of the early 20th century offered that Fawkes was the only man to ever enter Parliament with honest intentions. One wonders (with tongue in cheek, of course) if the people are celebrating Fawkes' execution, or honoring his intent to seriously shake up government.