Days Until Guy Fawkes Night (Bonfire Night)

About Guy Fawkes Night (Bonfire Night)

November 5 commemorates the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, an attempt by Guy Fawkes and fellow conspirators to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London and assassinate King James I, discovered before it could be carried out.

The night is traditionally marked in the UK with bonfires and fireworks, a custom dating back to celebrations of the plot's failure that began within the same year as the event itself.

Guy Fawkes himself was captured guarding the gunpowder in the cellar beneath Parliament and was executed the following year, and effigies of him are still traditionally burned on many UK bonfires to this day.

A traditional search of Parliament's cellars by the Yeomen of the Guard still takes place each year before the State Opening of Parliament, a ceremonial nod directly tied to the original 1605 plot this holiday commemorates.