Dienstag, 3. November 2009

Poppy and me or 'Remember, remember the 5th of November'

Some historicl events are going to take place in Britain during the next 2 weeks.

1. Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night
In november 1605, a group of thirteen men almost succeeded in a dramatic plan to kill the king of England by blowing up the House of Parliament in London. Their plan, known as the 'Gunpowder Plot', was to destroy Parliament by exploding 36 barrels of gunpowder that they had stored in a cellar underneath the building.
The plot was a result of religious tensions in England in the early 17th century. the plotters were Catholics who were angry with King James the First, a Protestant, because of the anti-Catholics laws he had introduced.
The explosion was planned for November 5, when not only King James but also most of England's Protestant aristocracy would be attending Parliament. By murdering them the plotters hoped to cause a revolution and put a Catholic monarch on the English throne.
The plotters were careful, but eventully made a mistake. They felt bad about the fact that some of the people in the Parliament  would be Catholics, and one of them, Lord Monteagle, was actually the brother-in-law of francis Tresham, one of  the plotters. Tresham wrote an anonymous letter to Lord Monteagle, advising him to stay away from Parliamt because those who attended were 'going to receive a terrible bloe, and yet shall not see who hurts them'.
Lord Monteagle was suspicious and showed the letter to the authorities. Soldiers searched all the cellasr under the House of Parliament on the night of November 4, and not only discovered the gunpowder but also one of the plotters. Guy Fawkes, who was carrying a set of fuses. They arrested him immediately.
The authorities wanted to know who else was involved in the plot, so Fawkes was taken to the Tower of London and tortured until he revealed the names of the other conspirators.
The authorities also found out where the plotters qwere hiding, and sent soldiers there to arrest them. in the fight that followed, four of them were shot dead. The rest were executed, along with Guy Fawkes, on January 31st 1606.
The events of November 1605 began a British tradition that has continued to the present day. The night of November 5th is called Guy Fawkes Night and in British toens and villages it is still celebrated by lightning a huge bonfire and setting off fireworks. Indeed, many people refer to the celebrations event as 'Bonfire Night'
or 'Fireworks Night'. on top the bonfires there is always a 'guy' which means an effigy of Guy Fawkes. Nowadays, however, Guy Fawkes Night doesn't have any real political or religious mean - it's just an opportunity to socialise outside on a winter evening which is unusual in Britain.

2. November 11th, Day of Remeberance

November 11 is a day of remeberance for all soldiers killed in action.
Why November 11th?
Well, the First World War ended on November 11th at 11 a.m.
And what about the red poppies
The poppies are for charity. You can donate some money for a charity looking after wounded soldiers, soldiers' families, war memorials etc. Every donor gets a poppy.

Sonntag, 1. November 2009


Der Himmel wolkenbefahren an wenigen
Sonneninseln bleibe ich hängen ich höre
Den ganzen Tag Eric Clapton von meinen
Untertänigen Recordern so ist mir tröstlich
Trostlos zumute auf diesem verblichenen
Planeten ich könnte glatt einen gefüllten
Trommelsalutschußrevolver vergeuden an mir.

(Sarah Kirsch)