…it’s Fifth of November!

Well, almost. I missed it by a day, sorry!

Here in England, the Fifth of November is a huge deal: a celebration in a way, but in other ways we have kind of forgotten why we do what we do.

Part of that is because it is so close to Halloween, it all gets merged into one fun autumnal festival. Many English towns will have Bonfire Night, delicious food, and fireworks around this weekend, but if you asked many people, they will probably believe one of three myths…

1. Guy Fawkes was the guy (😅) behind the plot. Sorry, he was one of the least important guys in the Plot. His role was checking on the gunpowder, but he had no political power really.
2. Guy Fawkes was burned to death, which is why we have bonfires. Nope! He was convicted and sentenced to be hung, drawn, and quartered, BUT he ‘accidentally’ fell from the scaffold and broke his neck.
3. Americans don’t celebrate it because they are anti-monarchy. Wrong again! When British people emigrated to America, they took the celebration with them and called it ‘Pope Day’, but it fell out of favour after the Revolution.

Whether you celebrate the Fifth of November or not, I hope you have an awesome weekend! And if you decide to stay home, make sure to curl up with a book…