I mentioned the Lewes 5th November bonfire, where they still burn the pope, but it seems to have lost it's sectarian edge (though I might like confirmation of that before I risk going down there on 5th November)

I came across this in Bob Copper's book Song for all Seasons , about the celebrations in Lewes:

A long procession, consisting mostly of the younger element, would march all round the village carrying aloft flaring naphthalene torches. Singing, shouting, banging on doors and ringing bells, the merry gang would make their way, tearing the soft black velvet of the night into shreds with brilliant flashes and violent explosions from squibs, Chinese crackers, and especially "Lewes Rousers" which were renowned locally for the violence of their detonations. As they proceeded they would from time to time chant out in unison:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes it was his intent
To blow up the King and his Parliament,
With four score barrels of powder below
To blow old England overthrow.

But by God's Providence he was catched
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holler boys, holler, boys, make the bell ring
Holler, boys, holler, boys, God Save the King.

A tuppenny loaf to feed old Pope
and a penn'orth of cheese to choke him,
A pint of bee to rinse it down,
And a faggot of bush to burn him.

Burn his body right off his head
And then we'll say old Bogey's dead.

The point about this is that English people often look scornfully at Ireland, and imagine that the bigotry and the sectarian is something peculiarly Irish. If anything it's an import from England, that has lingered on after it's largely (not completely) died away over here.

Roll on the day when the Orange Parades and all that will just be folklore and a general occasion for celebration.