Hanging or burning the effigy of a political enemy to ridicule and dishonour them is a very old and very widespread practice. It is reported that in 1328, the troops of Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV, on their campaign in Italy to unseat Pope John XXII, burned a straw puppet of the pope. [8] Burning effigies in political protests is especially widespread in India and Pakistan. In the Philippines, the practice came up during the successful People Power Revolution against the regime of President Marcos. Since then effigy protests against the successive presidents developed into elaborate spectacles. [9] US President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama have been burned in effigy numerous times in protests against military operations and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq in the countries in the region as well as elsewhere. During the Arab Spring of 2011 and onward, effigies of the countries' leaders have been hanged in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria.
In the British colonies in New England, effigy performances gained prominence as an effective tool in the protests against the 1765 Stamp Act, leading to the American Revolution and the founding of the United States of America. Afterwards, it became an established form of political expression in US politics, and almost every US President has been burned in effigy at some point in his career.
The best known British example of a political effigy is the figure of Guy Fawkes, one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot who tried to assassinate King James I in 1605 by blowing up the House of Lords. Already a year later, the 5th of November was declared a holiday to celebrate the survival of the king and was celebrated with bonfires. Soon after, effigies of Guy Fawkes were burned. Traditionally, children make effigies from old clothing filled with straw to beg for "a penny for the guy", and communities build their own bonfires. Currently, Lewes, on the south coast of England has the most elaborate celebrations of Guy Fawkes Night. Competing bonfire societies make effigies of important and unpopular figures in current affairs and burn them alongside effigies of Guy Fawkes and the Pope. [10]
In Port Said, Egypt, the al-Limby (formerly known as Allenby) is burned during Spring Festival. The tradition started after the First World War, when demonstrators burned an effigy of British High Commissioner for Egypt Lord Allenby during a protest against the presence of British troops in the city. [11] In the second half of the 20th century it became custom to portray contemporary enemies of Egypt as the al-Limby. During the Arab Spring, effigies of President Mubarak and other Egyptian politicians were exhibited and burned as the al-Limby. [12]
Burning effigies is part of many rituals to mark the change of the seasons, performed all over Europe in locally distinct traditions. The figures usually personify adverse forces of life (winter, the old year, the witch, Judas Iscariot) and their burning marks and celebrates the annual cycle of life—death and rebirth, the defeat of winter and the return of spring. Most traditions are staged around New Year, at the end of Carnival or in the week before Easter. [13]
Many of these traditions have been exported as people migrated to other countries. European settlers brought their traditions to the colonies, where they might have merged with local traditions. In countries of Latin America, the Spanish tradition of burning Año Viejo (the Old Year) on New Year Eve and Judas on Good Friday is widely practiced. Judas is also burned in the Philippines. In Mexico, a hard papier-mache figure depicting the devil was used—representing Judas after he betrayed Jesus; and the figure wasn't just burned, but was blown to bits in the course of a fireworks display. [14]
The tradition of burning Guy Fawkes has been brought to New England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other British colonies. [15] The Indian and Pakistani tradition of burning Ravana is also practiced in Trinidad and in Edinburgh and Manchester, UK. In the 1970s German students established the burning of Winter in the form of a snowman at Lake Superior State University in Michigan, US.
The Marzanna ritual represents the end of the dark days of winter, the victory over death, and the welcoming of the spring rebirth. Marzanna is a Slavic goddess of death, associated with winter. The rite involves burning a female straw effigy or drowning it in a river, or both. It is a folk custom in Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, taking place on the day of the vernal equinox.
Funeral effigies made from wood, cloth and wax played a role in the royal funeral rituals in early modern France and England. [16] Following the medieval European doctrine of the double body of the king, these effigies represented the immortal and divine kingship. [17] The effigy was dressed in the royal regalia and waited upon as if alive, while the monarch's physical remains remained hidden in the coffin. After the coronation of the new king, these effigies were stored away. The museum of Westminster Abbey has a collection of English royal wax effigies reaching back to Edward III of England, who died in 1377. In the 18th century also other important personalities were honoured with a funeral effigy, for instance British prime minister Pitt the Elder, the naval hero Horatio Nelson, French emperor Napoleon, and Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond, who also had her parrot stuffed and displayed at her own request and expense. [18]
From the time of the funeral of Charles II in 1685, effigies were no longer placed on the coffin but were still made for later display. [19] The effigy of Charles II was displayed over his tomb until the early 19th century, when all effigies were removed from the abbey. [20] Nelson's effigy was a tourist attraction, commissioned the year after his death and his burial in St Paul's Cathedral in 1805. The government had decided that major public figures with State funerals should in future be buried at St Paul's. Concerned for their revenue from visitors, the Abbey decided it needed a rival attraction for admirers of Nelson. [21]
A tomb effigy, in French gisant ("recumbent") is the usually life-size sculpted figure depicting the deceased on a tomb monument. Although these funeary and commemorative reliefs were first developed in Ancient Egyptian and Etruscan cultures, they appear most numerously in Western Europe tombs from the later 11th century, in a style that continued in use through the Renaissance and early modern period, and are still sometimes used. They typically represent the deceased in a state of "eternal repose", with hands folded in prayer, lying on a pillow, awaiting resurrection with a dog or lion at their feet. A husband and wife may be depicted lying side by side. [22]
A related type of tomb effigy, the cadaver monument, shows the corpse in a state of decomposition as a reminder of human mortality. [23]
In the field of numismatics, effigy describes the portrait on the obverse of a coin. [24] [25] A practice evident in reference literature of the 19th century, [26] the obverse of a coin was said to depict "the ruler's effigy". [27] The appearance and style of effigy used varies according to the preference of the monarch or ruler being depicted - for example, some, such as George VI of the United Kingdom have preferred to be shown uncrowned, while others have favoured highly-formal representations. It can also be the case that the monarch's reign becomes long enough to merit issuing a succession of effigies so that their appearance continues to be current. Such has been the case for Queen Victoria (three effigies over 63 years) and Elizabeth II, who was depicted by five different effigies on British coins and three different effigies on British postage stamps between her ascension to the throne in 1953 and her death in 2022.
Effigy mound is a term used in the archaeology of (mainly) Pre-Columbian America for a large earthwork in the shape of a stylized animal, symbol, human, or other figure and generally containing one or more human burials.
Effigy vessel is a term used in the archeology of (mainly) Pre-Columbian America for ceramic or stone containers, pots, vases, cups, etc., in the shape of an animal or human.
In the past, criminals sentenced to death in absentia might be officially executed "in effigy" as a symbolic act. In southern India, effigies of the demon-king Ravana from the epic poem the Ramayana are traditionally burnt during the festival of Navrati.
A wicker man was a large human-shaped wicker statue allegedly used in Celtic paganism for human sacrifice by burning it, when loaded with captives.
Guy Fawkes, also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educated in York; his father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant Catholic.
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British monarchs and a burial site for 18 English, Scottish, and British monarchs. At least 16 royal weddings have taken place at the abbey since 1100.
A bonfire is a large and controlled outdoor fire, used either for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration.
A wax museum or waxworks usually consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses, wearing real clothes.
Morana, Morena, Mora, Mara, Morė, Marena, or Marzanna is a pagan Slavic goddess associated with seasonal rites based on the idea of death and rebirth of nature. She is an ancient goddess associated with winter's death, rebirth and dreams. In ancient Slavic rites, the death of the Goddess Morana at the end of winter becomes the rebirth of Spring of the Goddess Kostroma (Russian), Lada or Vesna representing the coming of Spring.
A wicker man was purportedly a large wicker statue in which the druids sacrificed humans and animals by burning. The primary evidence for this practice is a sentence by Roman general Julius Caesar in his Commentary on the Gallic War, which modern scholarship has linked to an earlier Greek writer, Posidonius.
Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Fireworks Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain, involving bonfires and fireworks displays. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605 O.S., when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords. The Catholic plotters had intended to assassinate Protestant king James I and his parliament. Celebrating that the king had survived, people lit bonfires around London. Months later, the Observance of 5th November Act mandated an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure.
The Sussex Bonfire Societies are responsible for the series of bonfire festivals concentrated on central and eastern Sussex, with further festivals in parts of Surrey and Kent from September to November each year.
The burning of Judas is an Easter-time ritual that originated in European Christian communities where an effigy of Judas Iscariot is burned. Other related mistreatment of Judas effigies include hanging, flogging, and exploding with fireworks. A similar ritual in Jewish tradition would be the hanging and burning an effigy of Haman and his ten sons during Purim, although this is not a widespread contemporary practice.
A wax sculpture is a depiction made using a waxy substance. Often these are effigies, usually of a notable individual, but there are also death masks and scenes with many figures, mostly in relief.
Maximilian Colt was a Flemish sculptor who settled in England and eventually rose to become the King's Master Carver.
Philippa de Mohun was Duchess of York, as a result of her third marriage to Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York (c.1373–1415), Lord of the Isle of Wight, a grandson of King Edward III (1327–1377). She succeeded her third husband as Lady of the Isle of Wight (1415–1431).
The Guy Fawkes mask is a stylised depiction of Guy Fawkes created by illustrator David Lloyd for the 1982–1989 graphic novel V for Vendetta written by Alan Moore with art by Lloyd. Derived from the masks used to represent Fawkes being burned on an effigy having long previously had roots as part of Guy Fawkes Night celebrations, Lloyd designed the mask as a smiling face with red cheeks, a wide moustache upturned at both ends, and a thin vertical pointed beard, worn in the graphic novel's narrative by anarchist protagonist V.
The Westminster Retable, the oldest known panel painting altarpiece in England, is estimated to have been painted in the 1270s in the circle of Plantagenet court painters, for Westminster Abbey, very probably for the high altar. It is thought to have been donated by Henry III of England as part of his Gothic redesign of the Abbey. The painting survived only because it was incorporated into furniture between the 16th and 19th centuries, and much of it has been damaged beyond restoration. According to one specialist, the "Westminster Retable, for all its wounded condition, is the finest panel painting of its time in Western Europe."
Lewes Bonfire, or Bonfire for short, describes a set of celebrations held in the town of Lewes in Sussex, England, that constitute the United Kingdom's largest and most famous Bonfire Night festivities, with Lewes being called the bonfire capital of the world.
In the United Kingdom, state funerals are usually reserved for monarchs. The most recent was the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022.
The Gunpowder Plot was a failed assassination attempt against King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby. The conspirators' aim was to blow up the House of Lords at the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605, while the king and many other important members of the aristocracy and nobility were inside. The conspirator who became most closely associated with the plot in the popular imagination was Guy Fawkes, who had been assigned the task of lighting the fuse to the explosives.
A tomb effigy is a sculpted effigy of a deceased person usually shown lying recumbent on a rectangular slab, presented in full ceremonial dress or wrapped in a shroud, and shown either dying or shortly after death. Such funerary and commemorative reliefs were first developed in Ancient Egyptian and Etruscan cultures, and appear most frequently in Western European tombs from the late 11th century, in a style that continued in use through the Renaissance and early modern period, and is still sometimes used. They typically represent the deceased in a state of "eternal repose", with hands folded in prayer, lying on a pillow, awaiting resurrection. A husband and wife may be depicted lying side by side.
Pope Night was an anti-Catholic holiday celebrated annually on November 5 in the colonial United States. It evolved from the British Guy Fawkes Night, which commemorates the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Pope Night was most popular in the seaport towns of New England, especially in Boston, where it was an occasion for drinking, rioting, and anti-elite protest by the working class.
The Rye Bonfire, also known as the Great Rye Fawkes Pageant, is an annual bonfire event in Rye, East Sussex, England. Run by the Rye and District Bonfire Society, the event occurs in November and includes a town parade, fireworks, and a bonfire usually featuring a boat burning.