Ralpapajan's Guy Fawkes' Night ~ On Picasa!
On 5th November 1605 three men ~ Catholics all ~ named Thomas Percy, Robert Catesby and Guido or Guy Fawkes were caught apparently trying to blow up Parliament with the King, James 1 ~ the same King who sponsored the King James Bible translation ~ inside.
Was this an attempt by the men themselves or were they merely dupes of Lord Robert Cecil, the Earl of Salisbury and of the Viennese Intelligence, the Counsellor to the King? Was this in fact what is called today a “False Flag” black operation? The King was perhaps not dealing with Catholics as harshly as some wanted so could it be that the “Gunpowder Plot” was designed to make him become harsher?
Interestingly it was apparently Lord Cecil who informed the King of the plot, possibly claiming receipt of an anonymous tip. If Fawkes ~ a Catholic ~ was persuaded to do the deed then he could be a “patsy” or “fall-guy”, one of many that followed. He helped to invent a pretext for war with Spain. Indeed, if this entire plot was a fraud then it could be said to be the foundation of the British Empire. Is this a Foundation to be proud of?
When the conspirators ~ yes, it was a Conspiracy ~ were discovered two of them, excluding Fawkes, were killed on the spot. The other, the alleged ring leader, Guy Fawkes, was incarcerated in the Tower of London and tortured over several days, with permission from the King ~ yes the same king that believed that a Bible was for Everyman and who, one supposes, was a devout Christian. Him being Head of the Church founded 70 years or so before.
On 31st January 1605 Guy was tried at Westminster Hall, together with some others, no doubt after giving out their names under torture. (Seems a familiar story today, does it not?) Found guilty they were taken to The Old Palace Yard, Westminster ~ you know the one, it is just a few yards to the east of the now 700 year old Westminster Abbey, the Christian church where all the Christian Kings and Queens of England are crowned. Here he was to be “hung, drawn and quartered”. Guy evaded the full punishment by jumping from the scaffold and breaking his neck. Tut! Tut! How very inconsiderate of him.
Wikipedia has this to say: 'The Sir Edward Coke, Attorney General told the court that each of the condemned would be drawn backwards to his death, by a horse, his head near the ground. They were to be "put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both". Their genitals would be cut off and burnt before their eyes, and their bowels and hearts removed. They would then be decapitated, and the dismembered parts of their bodies displayed so that they might become "prey for the fowls of the air".' Sounds pretty gruesome especially as those passing judgement were a part of the establishment in a religious system.
Wikipedia continues, however: 'On 31st January 1606, Fawkes and three others – Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookwood, and Robert Keyes – were dragged from the Tower on wattled hurdles to the Old Palace Yard at Westminster, opposite the building they had attempted to destroy. His fellow plotters were hanged, drawn and quartered. Fawkes was the last to stand on the scaffold. He asked for forgiveness of the King and state, while keeping up his "crosses and idle ceremonies", and aided by the hangman began to climb the ladder to the noose. Although weakened by torture, Fawkes managed to jump from the gallows, breaking his neck in the fall and thus avoiding the agony of the latter part of his execution.'
The explosive to be used was Corn Flour. This is quite interesting and should be investigated if you want to learn more.
So this, then, is what we celebrate each year in English origin countries. The torture of several men who were then put to death as gruesomely as possible. And does anyone care? No!
The thing is that today all anyone sees and remembers are the pretty fireworks and the smell of the bonfire. We cannot change history just as we cannot change anyone else's mind or thinking. All we can do is to change our own thinking and raise our own consciousness.
So to simply enjoy the moment, so to speak I put together a photo slide-show that is online here. We had a great time and no-one thought about anything mentioned above all evening!
Ralpapajan's Guy Fawkes' Night ~ On Picasa!
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