Today Is...Guy Fawkes Night

The plan was to blow up King James and his entire family at the State Opening of Parliament because he was Protestant and Guy Fawkes was Catholic and the King really hated Catholics, he seemed to think that we were always plotting something.
The gunpowder plot was a comedy of errors with the idea being to roll 36 barrels of gunpowder down the Thames, sneak it into a cellar of a rented house below Parliament and then wait for the House of Lords to open then creep back in, light the fuse and run away, blowing up the King and all of the Parliamentarians.
Would have worked too if it wasn't for one of Fawkes plotters writing to his MP brother telling him to take the day off on the 5th as it was going to be blown sky high.
Guy Fawkes was caught red handed entering the cellar below Parliament with a match and he was charged with high treason and the judge ordered that he be hung until he was halfway between living and dead, then his genitals cut off and burnt before his eyes and his bowels and heart removed. Then he would be decapitated and his quartered and the dismembered parts of the body displayed so that they might become prey for the fowls of the air.
The execution didn't go to plan as after the initial drawn part of the sentence, the hanging broke Fawkes neck killing him instantly but undeterred, the Government still had his genitals removed and burnt before quartering him between four horses and gutted anyway.
As it turned out it gave us Brits the great tradition of Bonfire Night when we pile up all those old wooden gate posts that have been in the shed since they blew down in February and set fire to them along with an effigy of Guy Fawkes or whoever we don't like that particular year.
Celebrities and politicians are fair game for the flames, as are sportsmen and anyone in the news but as usual the Catholic Church find the whole thing distasteful and anti-Catholic.
I have been attending bonfire and fireworks party for decades and i can't recall any anti-catholic sentiments being muttered as the flames licked around the paws of the poor teddy bear chosen to wear a mask and adorn the top seat of the bonfire because due to Health and Safety rules we can no longer burn real Catholics and have to make do with burning effigies instead.
I'm certain that most people who attend Guy Fawkes' Nights celebrations don't do it out of some hatred of Catholics, simply a chance to go 'ooh', 'aah' and 'whee' at a few overpriced fireworks and watch a teddy bear make the ultimate sacrifice.