"Remember, remember the fifth of November." You've probably seen this all over your social feeds today, probably just thinking people are cleverly ushering in Nov. 5.
However, there's so much more behind this beginning to an English verse. The verse describes the Gunpowder Plot, which involved today's namesake, Guy Fawkes. So who was this man, and why do we still care about him?
Fawkes was born in England in 1570 at a time when Catholicism was heavily repressed in the country. Though he grew up a Protestant, Fawkes converted to Catholicism and enlisted in the Spanish army in the Netherlands around 1593.
Soon, other political movements adopted the Guy Fawkes mask, most notably Occupy Wall Street when it started gaining ground in 2011. Since then, many other protesters have used the Guy Fawkes mask as a symbol of rebellion for their own causes, such as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange or those protesting their country's government, from Bahrain to Brazil.
Ironically, Time Warner owns the rights to the image of the Guy Fawkes mask and gets paid a licensing fee with each sale. However, individuals claiming to be Anonymous members told CNN back in 2011 that they have their own replica masks mass-produced and shipped from Asia so that Time Warner doesn't profit off of their use of the mask. The real Guy Fawkes would have definitely approved.
Image: Warrick Page / Getty Images
