Bonfire Night Origin

Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes Night) on 5 November commemorates the failure of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. A group of Catholics led by Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Protestant King James I and Parliament with barrels of gunpowder beneath the Houses of Parliament. The plot was discovered; Fawkes was arrested and executed. People in Britain celebrate with bonfires and fireworks, sometimes burning effigies called 'guys'.