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| A 1769 woodcut of Pope Night celebrations in Colonial Boston |
While Guy Fawkes was celebrated as a holiday on November 5th in England, in Boston it was
known as Pope Night. The Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605 in England was led by a group of English Catholics who wanted to restore a
Catholic king by assassinating the Protestant King James I. Guy Fawkes was arrested as part of this
conspiracy. His effigy was burned in
celebration for this annual celebration which is also known as Guy Fawkes Day,
Bonfire Night or Fireworks Night in England.
Anti-Catholic sentiment was strong in Boston (also anti-Quaker,, anti-Baptist, anti-Scots Irish Presbyterians - you name it), and so the
celebrations were carried over the Atlantic to Massachusetts where it became
known as “Pope Night" or "Pope's Day”. Effigies of the
Pope and other Catholic clergy were burned instead of images of Guy
Fawkes. This is hard to believe today in
21st century Boston, where
the Irish Catholic Kennedys are treated like American royalty. In the 17th
century Boston was staunchly Protestant and anti-papist.
These celebrations often became riots as gangs of young men
competed for the honor of burning the Pope, or having the biggest
bonfires. In the 1760s and 1770s this
progressed toward anti-British sentiment and effigies of the King and other
British politicians were burned. This
was a treasonous offense. The Quebec
Act of 1774 allowed Catholics in Canada and north of Ohio to practice their
religion, which sparked a new interest in Pope’s Day and anti-Catholic
sentiments.
In 1775 George Washington gave a speech “expressing
his surprise that there should be officers and soldiers in this army so void of
common sense as not to see the impropriety of such a step at this juncture, at
a time when we are soliciting, and have really obtained the friendship and
alliance of the people of Canada, whom we ought to consider s brethren embarked
in the same cause, - the defence of the Liberty of America. At this juncture and under such circumstances to be insulting to their religion, is so monstrous as not to
suffered or excused, indeed, instead of offering the most remote insult, it is
our duty to address public thanks to these our brethren, as to them we are
indebted for every happy success over the common enemy in Canada.” [Life
of Washington by Washington Irving, iii, p. 144]
And so the tradition of Pope Night continued throughout the United
States for some time, but usually in conjunction with Election Day or Halloween. The November 5th Gunpowder Plot was soon forgotten (At least until the release of the movie V for Vendetta in 2005). Some
people think that after our independence from England, the traditional Guy Fawkes Day or Pope Night bonfires and fireworks morphed into our modern
Fourth of July celebrations. Most historians would probably agree.
More information for the truly curious:
From “The Beehive” the official blog of the Massachusetts
Historical Society, a description of Pope’s Day 1765 by Issac Winslow: http://www.masshist.org/blog/662
More descriptions of Pope’s Day in Boston and Newburyport, Massachusetts 1760; Charleston,
South Carolina in 1753 and Portsmouth, NH in 1891 at this link: http://mysite.verizon.net/cbladey/guy/html/usaplot.html#Boston:%20Pope%20Day%20Broadside%20from%201768
Other blog posts about Pope Night:
and last but not least, from the Breed’s Hill Institute
website… http://www.breedshill.org/The_Breeds_Hill_institute/Fright_Night.html
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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
This is great. I never knew about Pope Night or Pope's Day. I've remembered November 5th for a long time, because it is my husband's birthday. When his birthday arrives, we always remind our friends about Guy Fawkes Day and the Gunpowder Plot. Now we can tell them about Pope Night as well. Thanks for all this interesting history!
ReplyDeleteI knew about Guy Fawkes from my Grandmother, who grew up in England. She always compared Guy Fawkes to Halloween. But when I learned the history of who Fawkes was and why he tried to blow up Parliment, all the rest of the story of Pope Night came together.
DeleteHeather, I happened to be in a pub in York, England, where Guy Fawkes and his cohorts supposedly met and made their plans. It's said to be haunted to this day, with chairs mysteriously pulled around the fireplace in the middle of the night. I've never heard of Pope Night, though. Very interesting!
ReplyDeleteHeather, thanks for this excellent summary and overview. I didn't know about Pope's Day - very interesting! Colonial America was certainly very tumultuous.
ReplyDeleteCorrection of one detail: the Quebec Act was passed in 1774, not 1765. The context of the 1775 quote from Washington is that the nascent U.S. had invaded the Province of Quebec (as that territory was known at the time) and he wanted to dissuade anti-Catholic New Englanders from antagonizing the local Catholics of Montreal by banning Christmas, celebrating "Pope's Night," etc. For more about the context of the Quebec Act and the anti-Catholicism of the period see: https://frenchnorthamerica.blogspot.com/2012/10/Anti-Catholic-Quebec-Act.html
ReplyDelete