POPE BURNING
EXCERPT FROM TRUE BRITS ©JR DAESCHNER

Ah, November the Fifth in England! Bonfires scent the countryside ... fireworks light the skies ... and down in the Deep South, barely an hour from London, young men's fancies turn to drinking, dressing up ... and burning the Pope in effigy.
Bonfire Night is England's de facto national day, and the Sussex town of Lewes is its de facto Bonfire Capital.

Across the country, revellers gather on Guy Fawkes Night to light bonfires, shoot off fireworks and torch the Catholic who plotted to blow up King and Parliament four centuries ago.
In most places, the event's anti-Catholic roots have long been forgotten; the dummy on the bonfire is just some "guy", a generic hate figure rather than a specific religious threat.

But in Lewes, Bonfire stalwarts continue a Protestant tradition that was once widespread in England. Not only do they burn Guy Fawkes; they also torch the Pope himself-the Vicar of Christ, Successor of St. Peter, and Supreme Pontiff of a billion believers around the world.

For one night every year, this model English town transforms itself into a bastion of Catholic-bashing. Torch-bearing men, women and children-disguised as Vikings, smugglers and black-faced Zulus-chant "Bonfire Prayers" calling for the Pope's destruction, while police in riot gear control the crowd.
Blazing crosses march through the streets, banners proclaim NO POPERY and the crisp air reverberates with bloodthirsty cries to Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnn the Pope!!!

The most heartfelt Pope-bashing takes place at a chapel owned by none other than Rev. Ian Paisley, the Calvinist politico from Northern Ireland, creating a truly combustive combination: a little bit of Ulster, right in London's backyard.
And for anyone who protests against Pope burning, Lewes' Bonfire Boys have an ominous response: they burn them in effigy-as Enemies of Bonfire.
So I wasn't expecting a warm welcome. As the local priest put it when introducing me to a parishioner, "This man is looking for trouble digging up Bonfire lore. He may very well be the first American to be burnt."

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