This past Friday we honored our annual tradition at work by inviting our families in to Trick or Treat. Some years Halloween has been cold and snowy and this can be the best opportunity for our children to score the sweet stuff without contracting frost bite. This year, despite a little bit of snow earlier in the week, the temperatures were warm and the kids came out in droves. We hosted several princesses, a soldier, plenty of scary ghouls, Papa Smurf, Mario, and an adorable bumble bee. That was just the children; among the adults we were honored to have Tina Turner on site, a caveman, a redneck and some very cordial witches. Personally, I decided that I topped out as Trinity from the Matrix several years ago and decided to quit while I was ahead after that. I wore my bejeweled Happy Halloween T-shirt to demonstrate that I am far from anti-Halloween but these days I leave the dressing up to those more creative than me (which is the vast majority of the population).
Throughout the course of the day, several people asked me if we celebrate Halloween in England. When I was little we did not but I think that the American Halloween traditions have been adopted in England in recent years. We do however celebrate Guy Fawkes Day which is very close to Halloween in terms of time, but quite different in terms of origin. In the spirit of cultural exchange, it is my pleasure to educate you about Guy Fawkes Day if you are not already familiar with it. I believe this will serve not only as an insight into that particular festivity but demonstrate how traditions are formed and baked into the very fabric of a country’s culture for seemingly the oddest of reasons.
Guy Fawkes Day, also known as Bonfire Night, is a commemoration of the infamous Gunpowder Plot hatched in the early 1600s. A band of plotters intended to restore a Catholic monarch to the throne in England and given the times the most logical approach appeared to be to blow up the Houses of Parliament and assassinate King James I. This required quite a lot of gunpowder and Guy Fawkes was put in charge of guarding the stockpile. On November 5th, 1605 after authorities received an anonymous letter, Fawkes was found with the gunpowder, questioned and tortured and eventually he revealed the plot. Subsequently he was found guilty of high treason, a significant charge with extreme consequences, and sentenced to death by being hung, drawn and quartered, a barbaric practice and a very painful way to go.
As a result, an Act of Parliament designated November 5th a celebration and Londoners were encouraged to recognize the King's narrow escape from assassination by lighting bonfires. This evolved into making effigies of Guy Fawkes from old clothes stuffed with newspapers and sitting him atop the bonfires and burning his likeness throughout the land. Eventually the celebration included roasting food over the fire and then grew further by letting off fireworks as the evening grew darker. Nobody really seems to know why Guy Fawkes became the mascot for the Gunpowder Plot. He was not the brains behind the machinations and while he served a key role, it was certainly not a role that could not have been performed by many others. It is however his legacy and every year he is burned over again for more than 400 years now.
I’m not sure if that makes us a violent nation, a collection of monarchists, or just like societies the world over, people who are drawn together by celebration, food and the desire to mingle. We want to know our neighbors, we want to break bread together, and we like to sing and dance and sometimes dress up and this is as good a way as any to achieve this; however, I will admit the root of these events is nothing less than bizarre sometimes. Please don’t think any the less of us and Happy Halloween and Guy Fawkes Day to all!
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