Uphill idealist

I celebrated Guy Fawkes Day once because a friend from England was a part of the church community where we lived and we wanted to make him feel more at home here in the states. I stuffed a Guy Fawkes dummy for my front patio, made homemade scones and clotted cream and we had our own little party. There was no bon-fire or perpetual torture. Just good friends, a nice tea, and my kids asking why I was making a scary dummy on the porch since Halloween was already past. It 's all in the perspective I suppose, and a day for clotted cream and fresh scones is one I'd celebrate any day! Although Bonfire Night is an ancient ritual, Guy Fawkes Day emerged as a nationalistic reaction to “The Gunpowder Plot” of 1605. The leader of the conspiracy, Guy Fawkes, was an ardent Catholic who attempted to blow up King James I and the Houses of Parliament with the hopes of challenging the Protestant control of the country. The failure of Fawkes’s plot brought about an immediate surge in English Na...