Guy Fawkes

In New Zealand there is no 4th of July but there is Guy Fawkes day.  Guy Fawkes day is basically the same.   Heaps of people go out and shoot off fire works, the only difference is they are not celebrating their country's independence.  Guy Fawkes was a man who was part of a Roman Catholic group of men that wanted to blow up the house of parliament and kill all of parliament with it.  This is known as the "Gun Powder Plot".  The master mind of the plot was not Guy Fawkes, as you might have guessed, it was actually a man named Robert Catesby.  Guy Fawkes was just appointed the position of executing the plan (because of his military explosives experience).  So, they hid 1,800 pounds of gun powder in a cellar under the parliamentary building ready to be set off to kill all of parliament.  But when their plot was uncovered, Guy Fawkes was going to blow himself up while blowing up Parliament.  He took a flare and attempted to ignite the powder charge, and at the last instant Peter Heywood took the flare from him.  Guy Fawkes was tortured then was hung almost to death.   He jumped off the gallows, breaking his neck to save himself from being disemboweled.

So we had a great Guy Fawkes night lighting off of heaps of fire works into the pitch black sky.  Even after hearing the story behind Guy Fawkes day it still brings up the question for me, why would your country, which hails to the Queen, celebrate a man who tried to kill her and all of parliament?

(This happened in 1609 so don't really mean this Queen just the one way before it).

~Damon