Remember remember the 5th of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot,
I see no reason why,
Gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.

I was thinking today at work, do our American 'cousins' celebrate this day, or do they wonder what the hell I'm on about?

And if they dont celebrate 'bonfire night' when did it stop? as i'm assuming that the 1604 plot was against 'their' Parliament at that time.... we do have more 'shared' history with America, as it was a colony iirc about as long as its been a state.

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Hehehe...my birthday is on bonfire night...

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I'm sure some liberal do gooder will eventually get Bonfire Night banned because it might offend catholics or immigrants or asylum seekers or people named Guy...........you mark my words, its only a matter of time...

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5th November celebrations to ban banned...

Organisation claims it is highly offensive to Terrorists and their families and contributes to the discrimination they face in everyday life...

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Okay, since no one else stepped up to the plate, what are you talking about? November 5th is no special date on any calendar I have. Enlighten me please.

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Try this link Greg....

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=39339

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Ah, thanks InsaneApache. I did a search on "Guy Fawkes" and found http://www.bonefire.org/guy/index.php for some more details.

One question strikes me though. The monarchy seems (to me) to be falling out of favour with more and more British citizens, yet bonfire night sounds like it is pretty popular and it started as a celebration that the king was saved. Is there signs of the popularity of bonfire night waning or its original meaning changing (much like Christmas and Halloween)? How do these two seemingly opposing ideas reconcile with November 5th? Just curious.

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If anything Greg it's getting more popular than it was years ago when I was a kid (1960s) ....I cant speak for anyone else but my own personal view is that its a great excuse to have a party 'round the bonfire, eat treacle toffe and ginger cake or parkin, let off some fireworks,,,,and then we get drunk ...not forgetting to burn the effigy of the papist plotter Guy Fawkes

If u want an idea of the effect.....think the 1st shock and awe attack on Baghdad....without the casualties of course

( tho some people enivitably do get hurt, I dont remember any deaths)

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Cool. Thanks for expanding my horizons IA.

The time of year for Bonfire night is much better than our Independence day. In July, we have to wait until about 10pm to light up the night. You folks can get started about 4 hours sooner, and I imagine, therefore, your parties are much more "interesting" than ours.

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Are they celebrating Fawke's execution or honoring his attempt to do away with the government?

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It falls under the British catagory of 'we don't care, it's an excuse to do something fun'.

Ah, the apathy.

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Drinking beer and burning stuff, sounds like fun to me.

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