Remember, Remember… anti-Catholic sentiment
Occasionally at this time of year, you hear of some towns being asked not to celebrate Guy Fawkes’ Night because of religious sensitivity, because the celebration was originally strongly anti-Catholic in nature. You’re wondering what I’m on about now, aren’t you?
Well, here’s the background…
Most people in the UK know at least the first two lines of the following poem:
Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot…
… very few people know that the poem actually ends like this:
A penny loaf to feed the Pope
A farthing o’ cheese to choke him
A pint of beer to rinse it down
A faggot of sticks to burn him
Burn him in a tub of tar
Burn him like a blazing star
Burn his body from his head
Then we’ll say ol’ Pope is dead
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!
You see? There’s definitely some sentiment agains the Roman Catholic Church in there, isn’t there?
Of course, the reason for all this was the Gunpowder Plot: basically, Guido Fawkes and the other Roman Catholic conspirators were discovered attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament with 1800 pounds of gunpowder, killing King James I and most of the protestant aristocracy — and most likely reducing the Houses of Parliament to rubble in the process — and then incite a revolt. It was certainly a Catholic plot, against the Protestant hierachy of the time.
When the king asked why he would kill him, Fawkes replied that the pope had excommunicated him, adding that “dangerous diseases require [...] desperate [remedies].”Wikipedia
Catholics at the time (and obviously afterwards, too) were persecuted, and did not have equal rights. It was also specifically indicated by an Act of Parliament that the day be commemorated as a day of thanksgiving for deliverance. Other commerations in verse were also fervently anti-Catholic, such as this John Rhodes affair:
A brief Summe of the Treason intended against King & State, when they should have been assembled in Parliament, November 5. 1605. Fit for to instruct the simple and ignorant heerein: that they not be seduced any longer by Papists.John Rhodes
However, most people would argue that today we’re much more tolerant of religious differences and that the celebration of Guy Fawkes’ night today isn’t seen, or intended, to be anti-Catholic in sentiment — it’s just an excuse to have a bonfire and loads of fireworks (much the same as today’s cash cow that is Christmas seems to have little to do with the birth of a man who would probably have been horrified at the orgy of greed and gluttony associated with it now). But basically, no-one’s being offended any more — my wife, who is Catholic, knew of the Gunpowder Plot but hadn’t realised the Catholic nature of it until she was in her thirt— until she was twenty-one.
So what’s the problem?
Well, on the whole, there isn’t one. Apart from possibly Lewes in Sussex…
A number of large effigies are drawn though the streets. Effigies of Guy Fawkes and Pope Paul V, who became head of the Roman Catholic Church in 1605, feature every year. In addition each of the five main local societies creates a topical effigy, and the Cliffe society displays on pikes the heads (also in effigy) of its current “Enemies of Bonfire”, who range from nationally reviled figures to local officials who have attempted to place restrictions on the event. Restrictions are generally ignored by the Societies.Wikipedia
The Catholic nature of the plot is still highlighted, with seemingly anti-Catholic sentiment still running high. It is worth noting that 17 Protestants were burnt at the stake in Lewes in the 16th Century for not converting to Roman Catholicism under the reign of Queen Mary. So you can understand them being a little upset and holding a grudge, but for four hundred and fifty years? It’s not like Queen Mary’s on the throne any more…
Oh, and Now I wouldn’t seek to tell the five local bonfire societies what to do, as I don’t particularly fancy having an effigy of my head paraded through the streets of Lewes (otherwise only known to me as a place I visited for a wedding once), so instead I’ll just ask them politely…
Erm… if it’s all right, do you think you could consider toning it down a bit? I mean the Guy Fawkes thing, yes, but the whole Pope-burning thing just doesn’t really seem to sit right with me in today’s more tolerant society. Any chance you could drop that one — if it’s no trouble?Me
…and then the rest of us can just watch the fireworks.
Hello. I am 
Personally - I was more offended by the singing of ‘God Save The King/Queen’ (I forget which gender, I was pissed) after the ‘Bonfire Prayers’.
I don’t think they had an effigy of the Pope - instead they get a guy dressed as the Pope to stand on a raised platform and fire a couple of thousand fireworks DIRECTLY AT HIM while he tries to duck, hit back and otherwise avoid them. Great fun.
Who said we lived in a nanny state ?