Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated in England as the anniversary of the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament on November 5, 1605, the day that King James I was to open Parliament. Guy Fawkes was arrested in a cellar beneath the House of Lords with thirty-six barrels of gunpowder. Ultimately many other conspirators were chased, killed, arrested, imprisoned or executed.

The date is traditionally celebrated with bonfires, fireworks, and the burning of cloth effigies or “guys.”

• Guy Fawkes Day — The basic facts from InfoPlease
• Guy Fawkes Day — A site by Sonja Hyde devoted to Guy Fawkes Day, its history and celebration.
• Gunpowder Plot Pages — The Gunpowder Plot Pages include music and background information on the clothing and customs of the early Seventeenth Century, and the celebration of Guy Fawkes Day.
• Transcription of the Trial — The full transcription of the trial of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot, from the Complete Collection of State-Trials, London, 1776
• The Gunpowder Plot — Britannia presents a lengthy article on the Gunpowder Plot by David Nash Ford
• The Gunpowder Plot Society — “This web site covers everything from the history of the period, the various facts and theories, profiles on the conspirators and other key characters, comprehensive genealogical database, sites of historical importance, and an extensive downloadable archive of source material, manuscript and document translations, correspondence, and legal transcriptions (including confessions).”
• Guy Fawkes Day — Some Victorian illustrations from Malcolm Warrington’s Victorian Scrapalbum.
• Rhymes for Guy Fawkes Day — A collection of traditional rhymes

Guy Fawkes Day Recipes

• Bonfire Toffee and Parkin — Two versions of Parkin (Yorkshire and Lancashire) and a recipe for toffee from the KIDPROJ Multicultural Cookbook
• Bonfire Night Recipes — Including Treason Toffee and Houses of Parliament Soup