Gunpowder, treason and plot.
For I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
This is Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes) in the UK - though I imagine there will probably be a few fires even around the Maritimes tonight. When I lived in Brighton, I went once to the bonfire celebrations in the nearby county town of Lewes, which are probably the most famous in England. It was something I will never forget - the press of the crowds, the noise, the darkness, and all that fire. Very primeval.
Of course, the other thing I won't forget is the strident anti-Catholic theme of most of the traditional bonfire processions. In Lewes, I was astonished to see a huge banner strung up above the High Street which read 'No Popery'. Then there are the other, politically incorrect, verses of the Bonfire Prayer above, which include:
A penny loaf to feed the Pope
A farthing o'cheese to choke him
A pint of beer to rinse it down
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar
Burn him like a blazing star
Burn his body from his head
Then we'll say old Pope is dead!
Not that the Catholic Church needs me coming to its defence, mind. I'm just pointing it out, as a bizarre historical anachronism.
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