Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Ah Autumn! In Britain, we celebrate the 5th of Nevember by burning effigies of people who were put to death in various gruesome ways, and celebrating various other Catholics and Protestants that have been put to death.

It's all so reserved and British. Children eat sticky toffee apples whilst watching the image of people burning alive. It's a lovely family evening out.

Two of the major events are the burning of Guy Fawkes, who attempted to overthrow a parliament that had promised to be more accepting of the Catholic faith, but had renaged on that promise, ( - and all those who conspired with him were killed as well), and secondly the Catherine Wheel, which remembers the instrument of torture and death that killed Catherine of Alexandria for her crimes of telling people what she believed in. (And all those she told who agreed with her were killed as well).

Guy Fawkes

Celebrating the death of Guy Fawkes

Guy Fawkes Night is an annual celebration on the evening of 5 November. It marks the downfall of the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605, in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to destroy the Houses of Parliament, in London, United Kingdom.

Guy Fawkes Night involves fireworks displays and the building of bonfires on which traditionally "guys" are burnt. These "guys" are traditionally effigies of Guy Fawkes, the most famous of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators.

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, was a failed assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics against King James I of England and VI of Scotland. The plot intended to kill the King and most of the Protestant aristocracy by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening on 5 November 1605. The reason for this was that the King had reneged on his promises of greater tolerance of Catholicism. They wanted to start a revolt and install a Catholic Monarch.

The trial ranked highly as a public spectacle, and there are records of up to 10 shillings being paid for entry. Four of the plotters were executed in St. Paul's Churchyard on 30 January. On 31 January, Fawkes, Winter and a number of others implicated in the conspiracy were taken to Old Palace Yard in Westminster, in front of the scene of the intended crime, where they were to be hanged, drawn and quartered.

To be hanged, drawn and quartered was the penalty for high treason in medieval England. This involved being:

1. Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution.
2. Hanged by the neck for a short time or until almost dead (hanged).
3. Disembowelled and emasculated and the genitalia and entrails burned before the condemned's eyes
4. The body beheaded, then divided into four parts (quartered).

Typically, the resulting five parts (i.e., the four quarters of the body and the head) were gibbeted (put on public display) in different parts of the city, town, or, in famous cases, in the country, to deter would-be traitors who had not seen the execution.

Fawkes, although weakened by torture, cheated the executioners: when he was to be hanged until almost dead, he jumped from the gallows, breaking his neck and killing himself, thus avoiding the gruesome latter part of his execution. [1]

In Sussex, it is a major festival that centres on Lewes necessitating the closure of the town centre. The night also commemorates the Glorious Revolution and 17 local Protestant martyrs that were burnt at the stake during Marian Persecutions by the Catholic Queen Mary I. The night begins with torchlight processions in costume by a number of local bonfire societies and culminates in six separate bonfires where effigies of Guy Fawkes, Pope Paul V and topical personalities are destroyed by firework and flame. [2]

Catherine Wheel

Celebrating the death of Catherine of Alexandria

It is said that she visited her contemporary, the Roman Emperor Maximinus, and attempted to convince him of the error of his ways in persecuting Christians. She succeeded in converting his wife, the Empress, and many pagan wise men whom the Emperor sent to dispute with her, all of whom were subsequently martyred.[1] Upon the failure of the Emperor to win Catherine over, he ordered her to be put in prison; and when the people who visited her converted, she was condemned to death on the breaking wheel (an instrument of torture).

The Catherine Wheel was a product of the middle ages, especially popular in Germany. The victim's limbs were crushed with blunt objects. His (or her) still-living remains were subjected to the wheel. This meant the mangled arms and legs were threaded through the spokes. The wheel was then hoisted into the air using a long pole. Hungry vultures and crows picked at the body. Death came slowly.

A seventeenth-century chronicler wrote the victim looked like, "A sort of huge screaming puppet writhing in rivulets of blood, a puppet with four tentacles, like a sea monster, of raw, slimy and shapeless flesh mixed up with splinters of smashed bones."

This was one of the most popular spectacles of the time. This, and similar methods of torture, took place in the squares of Europe from 1450-1750. The masses, both common and noble, watched in fascination, cheering at a good wheeling. A woman (or a number of women in a row) brought even greater enthusiasm.

The wheel was named after Saint Catherine of Alexandria from the early 4th century. She was believed to have been killed in this fashion during the rule of the Roman Emperor Maxentius. [3]

After we have celebrated the putting to death of these people and their beliefs in Christianity, the next event in our calender tends to be the birth of the saviour.

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night

[3] http://home.comcast.net/~burokerl/catherine_wheel.htm