Remember the Fifth of November

If you think of Guy Fawkes, you probably think of this mask.

You might think of a man "who died for what he believed in." (per Fawkes from Fallout 3)

You might not realize his fame comes from, as Wikipedia puts it, "a failed conspiracy by a group of provincial English Catholics to assassinate the Protestant King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) and replace him with a Catholic head of state."

This scheme, known as the Gunpowder Plot, was discovered 5 November 1605 when Guy Fawkes was caught with explosives underneath the House of Lords.

In celebration of the Plot's failure, the citizenry lit bonfires, leading to the popular name of this British holiday - Bonfire Night. Fireworks are also on prominent display.

It used to be that Bonfire Night was Britain's big autumn celebration. Halloween was not an important holiday in the UK until very recently, when Americanization finally conquered the indigenous customs. (But hey, who can hold out long against the idea of free candy, right?)

Of course, if you participated in Bonfire Night, you could get free money. Children would build effigies of Guy Fawkes (to burn on November 5th) and, in the days running up to the holiday, ask for donations toward funding their firework purchases. The traditional phrase to employ for this is: "Penny for the Guy?"

By paddy patterson from Ayr, Scotland (penny for the guy) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Back when Britain was the one doing the conquering, the American colonies celebrated Bonfire Night, too. In fact, it was celebrated in Salem Massachusetts as late as 1817. That's after two wars against the British, mind. Salem likes its parties.

Hugh Laurie and Pug

I don't know where this is from, but it's Hugh Laurie and a PUG. 

What could be better?

Using Nuclear Power to Sell Tobacco

From: Tjs-labs' SMASHING THE INVISIBLE

Two questionable products that go great together!

Dogs of Fallout: New Vegas' Playing Cards

I love how Lupa gets her own card.

Queen, no less!

Although since women aren't allowed to have positions of power in the legion, I guess it's pretty telling that they have to go to a dog for the Queen card. Gives you some insight into that faction.

Also - Rex!

All Hallows and Halloween

Okay. You may or may not be aware of this movement to replace Halloween with JesusWeen.

What is particularly laughable about this campaign, other than the rather unfortunate-sounding name, is the fact that clearly the organizers have no idea what the Hallo in Halloween means: It's from hallows. As in saints.

Because today, November 1st, is All Saints' Day.

All Saints' Day is a religious feast day in honor of all saints, "known and unknown." All Souls' Day follows it on November 2nd and, just like it sounds, is a commemoration of those who have departed. This is a very spiritually positive series of days.

So why do we associate the night before All Hallows' (Saints')---which would be All Hallows' Eve (Hallow'een)---with tricks and the devil and whatnot?

Traditionally this night was regarded as the best time for divination games, possibly as hold-over from the pagan holiday of Samhain, when the veil between this and the Otherworld was thinnest. These games often revolved around predicting the occupation of your future husband, something of vital importance to girls in the past, when they could not hold occupations themselves and their status in life would rely upon their husband's. (Such divination games led to the witch hysteria in Salem, by the way.)

It was also thought that spirits roamed the land during Samhain---not bad spirits, all spirits. But since the day was for saints, it is easy to see how the night might come to be associated with bad spirits.

In 20th century America, children would take the role of bad spirits and get up to mischief (Mischief Night) by playing tricks and pranks on their neighbors. The whole "bribe those children with candy" idea wasn't a nation-wide movement until the 1950s, when the night's emphasis was deliberately shifted from tricks to treats to make Halloween a more family-friendly (and less destructive) event.

So it's kinda funny that now there are people who think Halloween isn't family-friendly at all.

But what could be more wholesome than the traditional Halloween game of bobbing for apples, right?



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