A Tale of Two Twelfths…

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. This opening paragraph from Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities sums up many people’s views on the Twelfth with …

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We Didn’t Start the Fire – The Ongoing Problems with Bonfires…

Inevitably as we enter July in Northern Ireland, there is much talk about the parading season. With that, I thought it would be a good time to discuss one of the most controversial elements that accompany the parading season, namely bonfires and, specifically, Eleventh-night bonfires. Bonfires are a difficult subject; even within the Unionist community, there is not widespread support for them, and many Unionists are dismayed by the negative trappings associated with some bonfires. Bonfires are legitimate expressions of …

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Can COVID 19 influence a quieter twelfth moving forward?

The sectarian summer returned this year like the bane of our society that is the annual reopening of old wounds. Every summer Northern Ireland becomes a battlefield of sectarianism, discrimination and in some cases violence. From parades to flags there are many of those from across the divide who use this time as an opportunity to maintain the “us or them” culture that has plagued our society for many decades. However this year Covid 19 seemed to reduce the embarrassing …

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There’s no Twelfth, so no parades or bonfires are required…

As a starting point, I am fully aware of the irony, I’m an Orangeman, penning an article outlining my opposition to any type of parade or bonfire over the Twelfth weekend this year. Like Unionism, Orangeism (bands, lodges, and supporters) doesn’t do long term planning, so when the leadership of the Loyal Orange Institution (LOI) decided to cancel this year’s Twelfth celebrations back in March, it was an unexpected and decisive move. The Institution made a long terms decision (well …

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Experiencing July 12th as a southerner

This summer myself and my podcast co-host Tim Mc Inerney travelled to Derry and Belfast to experience the 11th and 12th of July for ourselves and record our experiences for our podcast The Irish Passport. With our southern accents and southern registration plates, we got plenty of warnings to be careful — from both sides of the border. But we wanted to see and understand for ourselves what the Glorious Twelfth is all about, confronting our own biases and gaps …

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In praise of Ulster’s heartbeat – the Lambeg drum

  I don’t think anything better defines the Twelfth for me than the sight and the sound of a well-played Lambeg drum. Pun intended, but the oul Lambeg is hard to beat. I’ll be honest, though. The first time I heard a Lambeg as a child – at a Twelfth parade in Moira if I recall correctly – I must have jumped so high out of my skin that I could have touched the top of arch. But gradually, as …

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If progress is to be made on dangerous bonfires, the political footballs need to be kept firmly in the bag

The bonfire is not, as you would think from all the commentary, an exclusive feature of July Orangeism. In my own Tyrone village for instance – which is predominantly Catholic in population, but broadly quite apolitical in attitude – various housing estates would traditionally compete at Halloween time to see who could build the biggest bonfire. Yes, there were even incarnations of those bonfires that were situated rather recklessly. Fundamentally, the concept of the bonfire is something which working classes …

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“Mammy, why do we not have a flag on our house?”

Mairia Cahill writes on her impressions of visiting a bonfire site on the lower Shankill yesterday, and how a child’s eye view, unencumbered by the narrative framing of cultural matters, helped her see another side to the celebrations of The Twelfth. A week ago, I caused consternation amongst some of the hardline Loyalist community for raising the issue of flags flying from lampposts. I asked was there any “need” to fly large Union Jacks from in an effort to understand …

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BBC NI’s “The Twelfth” live coverage in 2012 complied with impartiality guidelines, but questions must remain about how the Twelfth is covered

The BBC’s live coverage of The Twelfth of July parade through Belfast city centre becomes more anachronistic with every passing year. Last year, a complaint was made to the BBC and later in the post I’ll refer to the finding. While the capital city’s parade remains the longest across Northern Ireland (Armagh is the largest), the numbers of Orangemen and women marching in each lodge is thinning out, often marching two abreast where once eight would have walked, and nowadays …

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Platform proceedings: the Orders in their own words

With the County Grand Lodge considering a judicial review of the Parades Commission ruling, a spokesman for the County Grand Lodge of Belfast has said: In addition to the normal denials of rights and freedoms that the Parades Commission regularly impose, this impossible demand would deny these brethren the opportunity to attend the platform proceedings, including the religious service at Barnett Demesne… A recurring contradiction in the Orders’ position is in selectively citing examples of quiet country parades while demanding …

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