Pope Night (also called Pope's Night, Pope Day, or Pope's Day) 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. Gang violence became part of the tradition in the 1740s, with residents of different Boston neighborhoods battling for the honor of burning the pope's effigy. By the mid-1760s these riots had subsided, and as colonial America moved towards the American Revolution (1765-1783), the class rivalries of Pope Night gave way to anti-British sentiment. Under the leadership of Pope Night organizer Ebenezer Mackintosh, Boston's North and South End gangs united in protest against the Stamp Act of 1765. Local authorities made several attempts to crack down on the festivities. In 1775, to avoid offending Canadian allies, George Washington issued an order forbidding any troops under his command from participating. The last known Pope Night celebration in Boston took place in 1776, though the tradition continued in other towns well into the 19th century. History The earliest known celebration of Pope Night took place on November 5, 1623, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A group of sailors built a bonfire, which raged out of control and destroyed several nearby homes. By the late 17th century, annual festivities on November 5 were a New England tradition. Major celebrations were held in Boston, Marblehead, Newburyport, Salem, and Portsmouth. In 1702, locals in Marblehead held a bull-baiting and distributed the meat to the poor. Mid-18th century Over the years the celebration became more elaborate. By the 1720s, simple bonfires had been replaced with parades in which effigies of the Pope and the Devil were carried through the streets on a platform before being burned. The celebrants came from what were called the "lower orders" of society: sailors, laborers, apprentices, lesser artisans, servants, and African-American slaves. Active participants were all males; there is no record of any females taking part except as spectators. Pope Night was celebrated the most consistently and boisterously in Boston, due in part to the large number of sailors there. In the 18th century, sailors occupied the lowest rung of the social ladder; many were criminals, deserted soldiers, and runaway slaves.