What was Popes Day?
17th and 18th-century Bostonians celebrated the anniversary of the English Gunpowder Plot as Pope’s Day. To mark the occasion, residents of the North and South Ends held separate parades, carrying effigies of the pope with them. Both parades led to the center of town, near the Old State House. When the two groups met, a riot typically ensued; each group fought to secure the other’s effigy of the Pope. The group that succeeded in doing so was declared the winner.
