Nov. 5th - Gunpowder, treason and plot

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
We see no reason
Why Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Let me first say, Happy Guy Fawkes Day.

Let me secondly say, I'm a tiny bit English. And because it's also my birthday I even hosted a bonfire night one year to celebrate. Why did I want to burn an effigy to celebrate my birth? Sounds a bit twisted when I think of it now.

I'm not going to talk politics or religion here. My point is... Grizzly! The English were very...ah...creative...when they carried out their executions. The conspirators were not only hanged but drawn and quartered.

To celebrate Guy Fawkes Day, children build a "Guy," stuff him with fireworks and he's thrown on top of the bonfire before it's lit.

Then there's the game, "Ring Around the Rosie," which ends in "Ashes, ashes, we all fall down". This of course was about the bubonic plague. Morbid game.

My uncle decided that even the children's prayer, "Now I lay me down to sleep," was a scary way to enter that state. Do children think about the words "If I should die before I wake"? Did you?

Every culture has their bogey men, their monsters under the bed or tales of trolls that steal children who are bad. Then there's Grimm's Fairy Tales. Grim, indeed.

I don't need grim. Give me Mary Poppins and a spoon full of sugar anytime.

Love to hear your thoughts.