19.10.07
Remember Remember the 5th of November
With Bonfire night coming up, I’ve been teaching my daughter the meaning of it all. In a nutshell: Guy Fawkes was a Catholic terrorist, who plotted to blow up Houses of Parliament and King James I, the Protestant King of England, on November 5th 1605.
They were caught when someone tipped off a Catholic Member of Parliament, Lord Monteagle (probably his brother in law, Francis Tresham) and the letter of warning was handed in. A search of Parliament discovered Guy Fawkes with 20 barrels of hidden gun powder.
The story became public knowledge and fell into folk law with the Guy Fawkes poem: Remember Remember, the fifth of November:
Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
the Gunpowder Treason and Plot,I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent to blow up King and Parliament.Three score barrels were laid below to prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s mercy he was catch’d with a dark lantern and lighted match.Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!Hip hip hoorah!
However there is a second verse, one that is totally unsuitable for this Politically Correct society in which we live. To understand it, you must consider the religious battle between Protestants and the Catholics which has been going on for centuries. Anyway, here it is, I’ll let you decide:
A penny loaf to feed the Pope
A farthing o’ cheese to choke him.A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.Burn his body from his head.
Then we’ll say ol’ Pope is dead.Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah hoorah!
Severe isn’t it? So what do you think, do you believe that the children of today should be taught such a politically incorrect poem? What’s takes the priority here: historical accuracy, or censoring religious intolerance?
Comment and let me know if you think I should teach this 2nd verse to my daughter or not?
Soraya said,
November 5, 2007 at 12:39 pm
There are many poems and nursery rhymes that in this day I don’t really want to hear my 5 year old singing. My particular pet hate is Goosey Gander where an old man gets thrown down the stairs for not saying his prayers. I think the best way to deal with violent messages in folklore etc is to explain what these rhymes etc tell us about the time and then stress that things aren’t the same today. At the end of the day I don’t believe that children take these sort of things to heart. I don’t know anyone for instance who’s thrown a pussy down a well. My daughters favourite film at age 2 was Van Helsing (too violent you may think) but to her killing the monsters was no more real than Scooby Doo. Bambi on the other hand gave her nightmares because she could relate to the wee beast and understood how afriad he was when his mother was killed.
George Orwell 1984 said,
August 27, 2008 at 9:19 am
Censoring? Hiding from the truth and what really happened? Are you serious? It is people with your ideaology that will ruin this society/world we live. Hiding from the truth will not solve the problem, only make it worse. Read George Orwell 1984 and you will understand where society is headed. Censoring… I can’t believe everyone jumps to the idea of censoring. It is almost a laughable idea if you think about it. Let’s all hide from the truth so we can feel better about ourselves because we are afraid of of reality. Sad honestly