Day 9 - Irish Studies & Service

If you take myth and folklore, and these things that speak in symbols, they can be interpreted in so many ways that although the actual image is clear enough, the interpretation is infinitely blurred, a sort of enormous rainbow of every possible colour you could imagine. ~ Diana Wynne Jones

Our correspondent today is Sarah Pinter:

Today we slept in a little bit. You would be amazed by how much better it feels to have one extra hour of sleep! After breakfast, we hurried to the Irish Studies building at Queen’s to hear another lecture by Dr. Dominic Bryan. His presentation was entitled "Parading Traditions in Northern Ireland.” Today’s topic was rituals and symbols, especially those associated with the Orange Order (a Protestant semi-secret society) and the Orange parades. Dr. Bryan is one of the most entertaining lecturers I have ever heard. He’s brilliant, although some of his theories can seem a little out there. (Scottish clan tartans were actually invented by an English clothier within the last century to up his sales? No one tell Doc Worthington!)

The Walsh Jesuit Students with Dr. Dominic Bryan

Dr. Bryan lectured on the rise to power, and subsequent fall from power, of the Orange Order, as well as on the symbols associated with it. He explained how the meaning of a symbol changes over time. It all depends upon the context of that symbol. An analogy he used was of our own American flag. When we see it behind the President on TV, it doesn’t have the same meaning that it did when members of the Ku Klux Klan were waving it around in the Deep South. Speaking of flags, Dr. Bryan came armed with quite a few to show us! Being one of the world’s leading experts on the symbology of flags, Dr. Bryan was very impassioned. Here are some interesting tidbits: the red hand of Ulster, a traditional symbol of Unionism/Protestantism, is also a Nationalist/Catholic symbol. I did not know that. Another irony centers on the Irish and British flags. Although they are used here in Belfast to denote division from each other, they actually are riddled with symbols of unity. The green and orange of the Irish flag stand for Catholics and Protestants being at peace, and the British flag incorporates the cross of St. Patrick (the diagonal red stripes) to show the union Ireland of Britain. Very interesting stuff!

After the lecture, we grabbed some lunch and tried to get into the main building at Queen’s to see the great hall. Unfortunately, we only got as far as the gift shop. There was yet another graduation, and we were not really welcome there. After meeting back up with Ms. Duarte, we went to see Belfast Castle and climb the Cave Hill mountain trail. Belfast Castle is beautiful. It overlooks Belfast Lough, and much of Belfast can be seen from it as well. Despite its ancient appearance, the castle was actually constructed in the last hundred years or so. It is not a real castle, but it’s close enough for us!

Climbing the Cave Hill trail was a lot of fun. Before it even gets to the mountain, the trail winds through some trees. Everyone was complaining about how steep the climb was. We had no idea what was coming! The trail up the face of the mountain looked imposing and it was a tough climb. Nevertheless, it was well worth the effort. The view from the summit was spectacular. We could see all of Belfast, Belfast Lough, and even the distant shores of Scotland. The sun was shining, there was a wee breeze, and the grass was very comfy. We didn’t really want to come back down, but sliding down the mountain through the grass was a blast. Hopefully we will get the grass stains out of our jeans!

We had dinner tonight at the Spur Steakhouse. (We were going to go to the Hard Rock Café Belfast, but it’s closed!) Everybody ate a ton. I personally ate an entire rack of ribs. For service tonight, we were going to go to a youth intervention center near Ballymurphy and befriend the area youth. However, the weather was so nice tonight that almost nobody came, so they let us go home. It’s the one downside to having beautiful weather in Belfast.

We’ve just had our evening prayer and reflection, so it’s time for bed now. Tomorrow should be nice and relaxing. Hopefully we’ll all embrace the opportunity to recharge our batteries. Until then, over and out!

Here are a couple pictures from Spur Steakhouse. As you can see it felt like a "Walsh Jesuit" tribute restaurant!