| Comment | It started off as an anti-Catholic celebration. Guy Fawkes and his gang were Catholics trying to overthrow the Protestant king and place a Catholic on the throne. The discovery of the plot provoked a renewed wave of anti-Catholic sentiment in England.
When 5th November was first celebrated, the effigy on top of the bonfire was of the pope. It was only over a hundred years later in the 18th century that Guy Fawkes appeared as the effigy. |
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