V for Vendetta brought Guy Fawkes into popular consciousness in the United States, but he had been well known in Britain for centuries, ever since his infamous foiled bombing attempt against British Parliament – Fawkes, a Catholic, was attempting to overthrow Protestant rule over the country. He journeyed from a terrorist figure to a celebrated hero of sorts, with the birth of Guy Fawkes’ Day, which somewhat resembles America’s Halloween, held every November 5th with bonfires, fireworks and children dressing up to go asking for treats from the neighbors.

On this day, November 5, in 1605, while guarding the barrels of gunpowder stored in the cellar of the House of Lords, Guy Fawkes was found by a couple of guards making an unexpected check of the area.

Fawkes confessed to his plot and gave away the names of his co-conspirators, who were quickly rounded up. In honor of the event, King James I of England ordered bonfires every November 5, over which the citizens would burn effigies of Guy Fawkes (and the Pope). Children would take their homemade effigies around town to ask for “a penny for Guy” (which may have been the origins of trick or treating in the United States), and the fireworks overhead symbolized the barrels that never exploded that fateful day.