Remember remember
Today we celebrate Guy Fawkes night here in the UK. The clocks have changed and the sky starts to darken around four in the afternoon, at five it’s already dark. This morning the streets around our house were hidden behind a thick mist, it felt as if the world was fading. The mornings are cold and the nights are even colder.
We’re locking down again, like so many other countries in Europe. I saw a headline: “prepare for the toughest winter of your life”. We can’t travel, we can’t see family, we shouldn’t even go to work. But over the last few days I’ve heard the smatter, whirring and bangs of fireworks. Some started to celebrate early. They light up the night. Fire to banish the demons, fire to banish the darkness.
More than four hundred years ago a man called Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Lords and failed. His attempt to overthrow those in power is still celebrated. Of course we’re supposed to celebrate that he failed, but Guy Fawkes has become a bit of a folk hero. “He’s the only political figure I admire”, said a man I interview about the political situation in the UK a few weeks ago.
About ten years ago people spent several weeks camping outside places of power to protest against financial inequality. Many of them wore a Guy Fawkes mask. What happened to those people? What happened to that movement? What is happening today?
I don’t have any answers. But I have lit a candle on the table next to me. I’ve invited the fire in, for protection, to banish the darkness.
– Image by Javardh on Unsplash.