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| A Guy Fawkes mask |
Guy Fawkes. Yes. Ok. Here we go with the short version. The first
thing you need to know to barely understand this is that, once upon a
time, in a not so far land, people were killing each other on religion
basis. All over Europe Kings and Queens and Princes and Dukes and stuff
like that thoguht that the best way to prevent people to kill each other
because of religion was to organize it and let the State kill people
beacuse of religion, which was far better because... well, because it
was more organized, because this way there was only one side killing all
the others, because you could kill more people at once that if you let
it to non-professional-religious-killers, because this way you were sure
that only the wrong kind of people were going to be killed. And if you
happen to be the wrong kind of people, then you would know, for sure,
that you were going to be killed with all the due style, protocol and
deserved pain that only wise and dedicated public servants could
provide. The only question you had to decide was which religion was your
country to officially follow and kill for.
So, during the 16th and
17th centuries each country made its choice. Spain choose Roman Catholicism, as
well as France and Italy. Germany was split between Protestant and Roman
Catholicism. Netherlands became Calvinists (mostly) as well as Switzerland.
England... became Anglican. What a country, man... Don't think that they asked
people to vote their favourite religion. There were no voting. The way they
decided their country religion was a national contest of kill-all-the-heretics.
Ok, yes, it is a little bit like voting, but the other way round. We know this
historical process as the European Religious Wars and, though we are
trying to make a joke of it, keep in mind that a lot of innocent people were
killed all over the 'civilized' Europe.
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| Painting of the actual guy called Guy |
But to the point. England
became Anglican.That means that the King or Queen became the Head of the Church
(King and Pope all in one), and that all the public servants became Anglicans
too. It does not means that nobody were Catholic. But it means that remaining
Catholics had to be very very careful, because though it was forbidden to kill
Anglicans because of their religion, it was allowed –and encouraged- to kill
Catholics, among other banned religions. And our man, Guy –or Guido- Fawkes was
Catholic. On November, the fifth, 1605, he tried to blow up the Parliament Houses while
in session by, simply, setting fire to a score of gunpowder barrels he
previously sneaked into the Parliament cellar.
The King’s men caught him the very last moment –if in a James Bond film, you
would have seen a countdown clock stopped at 1 second before the bang. From this moment on, Guy
Fawkes and his face, characteristically featured by a long mustache and a short beard,
became the representation of evil. It was said that the Pope and the King of
Spain had paid Guy Fawkes to blow the Parliament Houses. It became a political
and religious question –Spain was the main political enemy of England, and the
Pope the main religious rival.
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A lot of villains characters in movies are
inspired in the iconic image of Guy Fawkes. |
This is why, boys and girls, the evil character
in a lot of Hollywood and Disney films –the one who is bounding the defenseless
princess to the railway just in time for the hero to save her before the train
comes- is characterized with a long mustache –which he permanently combs while perversely smiling-
and beard.
But there is also the other side of the coin. in this version, Guy Fawkes is not a villain, but a sort of hero, something like a Quixote, fighting against a tirannyc system an against owerwelming odds. Recently, a comic called “V for Vendetta” by Allan Moore, which
eventually became a film, vindicated the name of Guy Fawkes not as a terrorist, but as a
rebel hero who fought for religious freedom in the 17th century
England –he actually said so during the trial. And a not very formal bunch of
people who fight –or so they say- against power abuses, uses his face in a mask
as their banner.
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| In the movies "Pirates of the Caribbean" we can watch this strange scene. Boths Guy Fawkes versions face to face. At one side, the unscrupulous villain. At the other, the unscrupulous hero. Sortin out who's who may be a little bit dificult, though. |
Anyway,
during as long as four centuries Guy Fawkes was the bad guy of every
story, theater play, film, cartoon and even nursery rhymes ever told.
Lots of public figures, specially politicians all across Europe, have
carefully avoided to bear mustache and short beard. No wonder why,
nobody wants to be the bad guy... British boys and girls will be, right
now, burning puppets of "The guy" in the streets and asking, door by
door, for "A penny for the guy" And British mothers sang their sons this
nursery rhyme to get them to sleep since the 17th century, which says a
lot of what kids really like... here it is.
Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes and his companions
Did the scheme contrive,
To blow the King and Parliament
All up alive.
Threescore barrels, laid below,
To prove old England's overthrow.
But, by God's providence, him they catch,
With a dark lantern, lighting a match!
A stick and a stake
For King James's sake!
If you won't give me one,
I'll take two,
The better for me,
And the worse for you.
A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,
A penn'orth of cheese to choke him,
A pint of beer to wash it down,
And a jolly good fire to burn him.
Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring!
Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King!
Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!
Oh, please mom, sing it again... I liked very much the 'burning the Pope' part...
