Well, now I will, thanks to that little rhymy-poem!
This weekend I observed my first official British holiday aside from Happy Hour--Guy Fawkes Day.
Its purpose is to commemorate the day that Guy Fawkes and his mates, old-school terrorists, were apprehended before they were able to blow up Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder in 1605 (the Gunpowder Plot).
The fifth of November was Sunday of course, but there were celebrations all weekend in the form of fireworks displays and bonfires. So in addition to the usual cigarette smoke permeating the air I breathe everyday, for the past few nights there's also been firework and bonfire smoke too! There were several professionally- organized, neighborhood shows which were nice, but more common were the amateur, watch-where-you-walk-because-there-might-be- a-bottle-rocket-flying-at-your-head type. Saturday night was the official Bonfire Night where Guy is burned in effigy. Lovely sight, I'm sure.
Interesting linguistics tidbit: the word 'guy' which we use to refer to a person or man, may have originated with Guy Fawkes. British have been burning 'a Guy' on bonfire night for 400 years.
I was chatting with Alex, a girl on my floor from Nottingham, about British holidays. Because England has pretty much always been independent (more or less) I figured there probably wasn't any kind of Independence Day; and since there's no Pilgrim/Indian history here, no Thanksgiving Day either. She said Guy Fawkes Day is basically the biggest national celebration aside from Christmas.
I also read: "Some of the English have been known to wonder, in a tongue in cheek kind of way, whether they are celebrating Fawkes' execution or honoring his attempt to do away with the government." www.bonefire.org/guy
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