Talk about precious – back a ways now, Brooklyn was the
first to begin referring to me as Grandma Honey Bee, and then Madison went on
to shorten it to the diminutive, Honey Bee. Here I am known to the Wardy family
as Auntie Honey Bee, and now learning-to-talk Ella has begun calling me, ‘Me,’
a shorten version of her ‘huh.knee.me.’ Aah.
Mailed some postcards, stopped by the bank and
Sainsbury’s, before meeting Leah up at the kids’ school to get a ride back to
their house for a little visiting – me to tell about my fun-filled weekend and
Leah to report on the wedding they’d driven down to near London on Saturday. Got
read to by both Oliver and Katya, ‘here’s how I’m doing in guitar’ from Katya,
plus a sample of each of their parts for the Primary sacrament meeting program to
take place this coming Sunday. Then unexpectedly ended up staying for dinner
and a little puzzles-and-games for Family Home Evening.
Now it’s night and I’m back home and there are
fireworks going off outside. Of course, what else is new? Pyrotechnics have
been going off steadily for the past several days and, finally, it is the actual
date for the celebration. Guy Fawkes Day – the date back in 1605 when a group
of conspirators tried to blow up the House of Parliament and kill the king, but
they were on to them and the ‘Gunpowder Plot” was foiled. While all of the would-be
assassins were eventually tried, found guilty and executed, one of their party,
Guy Fawkes by name, went on to infamously symbolize the movement.
Let’s go over that again in more detail. Ever
after the break of England from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s, due to the king’s 'great matter‘ (talking Henry VIII here), the issue of royal power
between Catholics and Protestants has raged – in fact, sadly continues on in
Ireland today. The story of one such incident, the gunpowder plot – the conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament,
celebrated as a national holiday each November as Guy Fawkes Day – goes
something like this: a small group of English Catholics (in
other words, ‘naughty men,” as related to me by Oliver who had been talking
about this very subject in school today) conceived an assassination plot to
ouster the Protestant King, James I, in order to restore a Catholic monarch to
the throne by replacing him with his daughter, the princess Elizabeth, third in
the line of succession.
The plotters somehow secured a lease to a cellar beneath the House of Lords and – pay close attention as this is where Guy Fawkes enters the narrative – Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder they stockpiled there. The detonation was to take place on State Opening day, when the King, Lords and Commons would all be present in the Lords Chamber. Prompted by the receipt of an anonymous letter, the authorities searched Westminster Palace during the early hours of the morning, and found Fawkes guarding the explosives. Over the next few days, he was questioned and tortured, and eventually broke. Immediately before his execution, Fawkes jumped from the scaffold where he was to be hanged and broke his neck, thus avoiding the agony of the drawing and quartering to follow - as was the custom, his body parts were to be distributed to "the four corners of the kingdom", and displayed as a warning to other would-be traitors. (Eu, okay, exciting and gruesome!)
The plotters somehow secured a lease to a cellar beneath the House of Lords and – pay close attention as this is where Guy Fawkes enters the narrative – Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder they stockpiled there. The detonation was to take place on State Opening day, when the King, Lords and Commons would all be present in the Lords Chamber. Prompted by the receipt of an anonymous letter, the authorities searched Westminster Palace during the early hours of the morning, and found Fawkes guarding the explosives. Over the next few days, he was questioned and tortured, and eventually broke. Immediately before his execution, Fawkes jumped from the scaffold where he was to be hanged and broke his neck, thus avoiding the agony of the drawing and quartering to follow - as was the custom, his body parts were to be distributed to "the four corners of the kingdom", and displayed as a warning to other would-be traitors. (Eu, okay, exciting and gruesome!)
Fawkes became synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot, the
failure of which has been commemorated in England on 5th November
ever since – for the first time in 1605 when Londoners
were encouraged to celebrate the King's escape from assassination by lighting
bonfires. Fawkes’ effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, commonly
accompanied by a firework display. An Act of
Parliament was passed to appoint this date each year as a day of thanksgiving
for 'the joyful day of deliverance'.
There is no doubt that Fawkes, though remembered wrongly as the principal conspirator, was in fact a minor cog in the wheel. Of further note: Bonfires were accompanied by fireworks from the 1650s onwards, and it became the custom to burn an effigy of Fawkes. The "guy" is normally created by children, from old clothes, newspapers, and a mask. During the nineteenth century, "guy" came to mean an oddly dressed person, but in American English it lost any pejorative connotation, and came to be used to refer to any male person. (How about that for word meaning origin?!) And there you have it, the closest thing (because of the fireworks?) in England to the 4th of July.
There is no doubt that Fawkes, though remembered wrongly as the principal conspirator, was in fact a minor cog in the wheel. Of further note: Bonfires were accompanied by fireworks from the 1650s onwards, and it became the custom to burn an effigy of Fawkes. The "guy" is normally created by children, from old clothes, newspapers, and a mask. During the nineteenth century, "guy" came to mean an oddly dressed person, but in American English it lost any pejorative connotation, and came to be used to refer to any male person. (How about that for word meaning origin?!) And there you have it, the closest thing (because of the fireworks?) in England to the 4th of July.
Speaking of politics, as my day comes to a close and
yours continues, I am listening to some commentary on tomorrow’s elections back
home. (It is always curious to hear the BBC's spin.) But closer to home from ‘Analyze American Politics’ in the
Salt Lake Tribune: ‘As Americans cast their ballots and
the clock ticks toward midnight in Mitt Romney’s presidential quest, this much
is clear: Americans didn’t know much about the candidate’s LDS faith when this
"Mormon moment" began. Now, thousands of headlines, dozens of TV newscasts
and one Tony-winning Broadway musical later, Americans still don’t know much
about Latter-day Saints and their beliefs.’
ALSO_ From The Star,
Canadian newspaper (that’s UK, right?), Olivia Ward, Foreign Affairs Reporter – U.S. election: Ten Things to Watch on Election Day---
‘As U.S. President
Barack Obama goes head to head Tuesday with Republican challenger Mitt Romney,
along with rivals for Congressional seats, here are some points and pointers to
watch:
Wild cards: If you think “two”
is the number of candidates running for president, you’re wrong. Some 25 are on
ballots across the country, buried under bags of Democratic and Republican
cash. But only two give the big guys pause: the Libertarian Party’s Gary
Johnson, a former New Mexico governor, and Constitution Party’s Virgil Goode of
Virginia. Both could potentially peel far-right votes from Romney. Neither has
more than 3 per cent support. But it’s still enough to make those who remember
consumer gadfly Ralph Nader’s impact on Al Gore’s failed bid in 2000 shudder.
Jokers: Who can forget
Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s advice to women — “Wives, you are to
be submissive to your husbands” — or her blurt that respected State Department
aide Huma Abedin is an Islamist infiltrator? Then there are Senate candidates
Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, who weighed in disastrously on “legitimate
rape” and God’s plan for bearing rape babies. Those Tea Party Republicans are
in the running in Congressional elections Tuesday. Their success or failure may
signal whether the party’s over.
Exit polls: Who votes is a major
predictor of how the night will go. If it’s white men by a large margin, the
Democrats may be clearing out their desks. Studies suggest only 40 per cent of
white men are Democratic voters. But if the black and Hispanic voters — only 4
per cent of the electorate in the main swing states — turn out in force, it
could tip the balance in an election as tight as Madonna’s corsets. Keep an eye
on Florida, Virginia and Arizona.
Early birds: Before the polls
opened, some 30 million Americans had cast ballots, or about 35 per cent of
those expected to vote. That’s 5 percentage points higher than in 2008. Who
benefits? Obama, by a shrinking margin. In 2008, more Democrats than
Republicans rushed to mail early ballots by 11 percentage points. This year
Republicans have narrowed the gap to 6 per cent with an energetic
get-out-the-vote campaign, according to ABC News.
Voter apathy: “Nobody will ever
deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people,”
said Franklin Roosevelt. But in each election, about half of eligible voters
stay home. In this bitterly contested, polarizing poll, some will opt to take a
pill and wake up when it’s over. Last election 57 per cent of voters turned
out, and Obama won. Supporters who have turned bearish on hope and change may
hibernate this time.
Popular vote: The election’s
nightmare scenario is a candidate who wins the electoral college vote — as
Obama is predicted to do — but loses the popular vote nationwide. That happened
in 2000, when Gore polled more than 500,000 votes over George W. Bush, but lost
the electoral college vote after a blocked Florida recount by the Supreme
Court. This year, both sides are cranking up legal machinery in advance. The
Republicans, who have waged a battle to delegitimize Obama while in office,
have signalled that the gloves are on.
Women: What do they want?
No one will know for sure until the polling’s over. They traditionally vote in
bigger numbers than men. And opinion polls show they’re shifting to the right
on economic issues, favouring Romney. But women still trust Obama on social
issues, including abortion, contraception and social programs. Whether worry
about their rights follows them to the voting booth could be a deal maker or
breaker
Provisional votes: In some states where
voter ID laws have been recently tightened — requiring photo ID or state-issued
ID that’s harder for poor and elderly people to obtain — voters have been
allowed to cast “provisional” ballots that will be counted if they return with
the approved ID within a few days. That may be difficult or impossible. But in
Ohio, the mother of all swing states, Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted
issued a last-minute rule change requiring a detailed form to be filled out by
voters instead of poll workers, and any errors would cause the ballot to be
dumped. Voting rights advocates have filed a lawsuit.
Weather: Superstorm Sandy has
already wreaked havoc on the eastern U.S., but not on Obama’s chances of
winning. However, it might discourage voters more concerned with freezing in
the dark than finding their way to the polls. Tuesday has only a couple of
“trouble spots,” according to the Weather Network. Thunderstorms are expected
to hit parts of hotly contested Florida, and snow or chilly rain could come
down on swing states Wisconsin and Iowa. But it may not be enough to rain on
anyone’s presidential parade.
Miracles: “Instead of loading
up on munchies and staying up all night to watch the results, I’m going to bed
early and say a prayer that God will let the best man for America win,” tweeted
one U.S. voter, no doubt echoing the sentiments of millions. According to the
Association of Religion Data Archives, 55 per cent of Americans now believe in
miracles, an increase of 22 per cent since the 1990s. In a year like this, both
candidates may say Amen.’
Another late night of student revelry. Oh, boy, it’s going to be an all nighter this time around! In truth, Guy Fawkes firework crash-boom-banging went on till very late. (No rules here having to do with you can only shoot off fireworks between such and such dates, and a lot more lethal I’m sure, as well. You should just see the girth of the Roman candles I’ve seen for sale in the stores! Point in fact, it’s been five days since this holiday – now the weekend again, and the pops and cracks are going again like crazy! I was awakened in the night, and heard the sound of many voices off in the distance – looked at the clock: 330am. Oh, my goodness, oh, my young people.)
Photos_
1- co-conspirators (1604)
2- discovery of the gunpowder plot
3- Guy Fawkes Day, aka Bonfire Night
4- the challengers, still smiling – one day to go!
5- the challengers, neck in neck - a day to do!
Another late night of student revelry. Oh, boy, it’s going to be an all nighter this time around! In truth, Guy Fawkes firework crash-boom-banging went on till very late. (No rules here having to do with you can only shoot off fireworks between such and such dates, and a lot more lethal I’m sure, as well. You should just see the girth of the Roman candles I’ve seen for sale in the stores! Point in fact, it’s been five days since this holiday – now the weekend again, and the pops and cracks are going again like crazy! I was awakened in the night, and heard the sound of many voices off in the distance – looked at the clock: 330am. Oh, my goodness, oh, my young people.)
Photos_
1- co-conspirators (1604)
2- discovery of the gunpowder plot
3- Guy Fawkes Day, aka Bonfire Night
4- the challengers, still smiling – one day to go!
5- the challengers, neck in neck - a day to do!
