John:  You are right that the BCP included a thanksgiving for the saving
of the king, but this isn't a negative.  I think you may be
misunderstanding Guy Fawkes Day -- it is celebrated precisely because the
monarch's life was spared.  In colonial Virginia almanacs, the date was
included as one of the most significant in the calendar of anniversaries
along with the Armada's defeat and the birth of the king.

I don't have the sources available at hand so I can't do it, but I think
if one wanted to look for evidences of whether GF day was celebrated in
colonial Virginia, one might look in the Va. Gazette for the months of
November and December (at least) for mention of bonfires and
"illuminations" which were the most common features of commemorating the
day.  And isn't there a published index to the Va. Gazette?

David Kiracofe
College of Charleston
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On Thu, 15 Nov 2001 13:38:20 -0500 john pearce wrote:

> I apologize if this duplicates another post, which I may have missed.
>
> On the question of whether or not Guy Fawkes Day was celebrted in
> Virginia, my memory tells me of a negative to that, in that I recall that
> the Book of Common Prayer included a prayer for the _saving_ of the king
> from the intended attack--thus the day may have been "remembered" in that
> way.
>
> John
>
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David Kiracofe

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