Today is Guy Fawkes Day – or night, as the case may be. The annual commemoration of the gun powder plot is a strange celebration of historic hatred. Guy Fawkes and his buddies had planned to blow up the House of Lord, King James I included, with a goal of ridding England of Catholicism. Fawkes was betrayed by an anonymous tip and arrested on November 5, 1605, while guarding the explosives that the plotters had stored beneath the building.

People celebrated King James’ I survival of this attempt with bonfires; across the years repeated celebrations took on an increasingly religious, anti-Catholic bend, with effigies burnt not only of Guy Fawkes but also the Pope and these days despised political figures, not necessarily only British ones.

Guy Fawkes was supposed to be hanged, drawn and quartered for treason, but managed to fall of the scaffold and painlessly die by breaking his neck. James I, a complex monarch often described as a drinking fool and rumored to be bi-sexual, died of disease in his mid-50s. Under his reign, with England and Scotland united, the people lived in a somewhat golden age – he was intent on avoiding wars, particularly with Spain. But he also imbued the monarchy with a sense of absolutism, a belief in the divine rights of kings, that his son Charles inherited. It did not end well for him – or the country that slid into civil war.

Why the Occupy movement took on a stylized Guy Fawkes mask is a mystery to me. Many see Fawkes’ role in history as that of a terrorist, killing anyone in a large radius to instill fear at the heart of a nation. But even if you see him as a freedom fighter, a symbol of revolt against those in power, think about what was at the root of his plans: religion. He wanted to strike in favor of Catholicism, and replace one elite with another, namely instate Jame’s I daughter Elizabeth on the throne and generate a new government overnight. In this sense it was like a failed military coup.

And in an ironic footnote: Occupy’s adoption of the mask had led to it becoming the top-selling mask on Amazon.com, selling hundreds of thousands a year. Time Warner, one of the largest media companies in the world, owns the rights to the image and is paid a fee with the sale of each official mask. So much for showing it to the man…..  Then again, some funny protest songs tell it as it is.

Here is to overcoming dark times by educating ourselves (if necessary by the light of the moon) instead of dwelling in senseless symbolism, lighting bon fires to celebrate schisms….