Remember, remember the fifth of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot. We see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.

Immortalised in the above nursery rhyme, the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605 is a story which has survived the test of time, and captured the imagination of generations students of British history, both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

Traditions associated with November 5 include lighting bonfires on which effigies of Guy Fawkes are burned. In Britain, children can be seen ahead of time with an effigy, calling out, 'A penny for the Guy', and using the funds to buy fireworks.

Though the ages, countless generations of Bermudians have also celebrated November 5 with bonfires and fireworks. In the run-up to the date, children had fun assembling scrap wood and dried garden refuse for the bonfire, and making effigies of Guy Fawkes out of old clothing to burn atop it. On the night, friends and family would gather around the roaring fire, eating sweet potato pudding and toasting marshmallows on sticks in the glowing embers.

Today, while many older Bermudians happily remember celebrating November 5, many of our children are unfamiliar with the story of the Gunpowder Plot and the traditions commemorating Guy Fawkes' treachery because it is not taught in most schools.

Of course, some Bermudians continue to uphold the November 5 traditions, but others can no longer do so because neighbourhoods no longer have the open space on which to build bonfires, and private possession of fireworks continue to be banned thanks to hooliganism years ago.

So what exactly is so momentous about an event which happened 402 years ago that finds it still observed by so many?

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was an attempt by Guy Fawkes, Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, Thomas Wintour, and Christopher Wright to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, English Catholics were so persecuted that when the Queen died and James I succeeded her, they hoped that, since the new monarch's mother was Catholic, their religion would find greater tolerance. It wasn't, so a group of young men decided that the only way to make progress was through violence.

Thus it was that what became known as the Gunpowder Plot was hatched, the rationale being that if they blew up Parliament, killing the King and the Members of Parliament, they would eliminate those whom they perceived were standing in the way of progress for English Catholics.

In the Spring of 1605 the conspirators rented a cellar beneath the House of Lords and filled it with 36 barrels of gunpowder, which they hid under iron bars and bundles of sticks. In August, Guy Fawkes returned from Flanders and visited the cellar to check on the gunpowder.

The plotters met again on October 18 and discussed how Catholic peers might be spared death in the impending deadly explosion. An anonymous letter, subsequently known as the 'Monteagle Letter', was written to the fourth Baron Monteagle warning him not to attend Parliament on November 5. When its contents became known, the group were naturally concerned but reasoned that its terms were sufficiently vague to allow the plot to go ahead.

Quick exit plans from London were formulated, and it was decided that Guy Fawkes would light a slow fuse in order to give him sufficient time to escape from the scene of the crime.

On November 4, the Lord Chamberlain, Thomas Howard, led a search party of the cellars of Parliament, during which they discovered Fawkes, and duly reported their findings to King James. Meanwhile, Fawkes left the cellar to find Thomas Percy and warn him of what had taken place, and then returned.

During the early hours of November 5, the Lord Chamberlain elected to conduct a second search, during which Fawkes was found with slow matches and torchwood, and promptly arrested.

King James was among those who interrogated the man who maintained he was 'John Johnson, Thomas Percy's servant', and duly gave his Royal blessing for the only son of Edward and Edith Fawkes' to be tortured.

"God speede youre worke," the monarch told them.

On November 7 the prisoner finally confessed that he was indeed Guy Fawkes, and named five of his co-conspirators. On the following day he named the rest. The conspirators' trial began on January 27, 1606. Three days later, Guy Fawkes was taken to the Old Palace Yard in Westminster and executed. His fellow conspirators met a similar fate the same day.

Meanwhile, on November 5 when word reached the people that the gunpowder plot had been foiled, they lit bonfires in celebration of the Monarch's safety. Since then, the date has been known as 'Bonfire Night', with fireworks and effigies of Guy Fawkes being burned in commemoration.