Parades and Pagents

Our morning correspondent is Tom Bedell:

Technically today started when we were at the bonfire so I will start there. The bonfires start at midnight because of religious reasons the Protestants will not to do any fires on a Sunday. But at the stroke of midnight they waste no time in promptly lighting the bonfires with Molotov cocktails and liters upon liters of petrol. The Lower Castlereagh Community has been trying to reduce the sectarian nature of the bonfires and move to a Despite these attempts the tri-colors were flying along with the Irish National Liberation Army, and a Celtic Football League jersey, all of which represent the Catholic community. The fire was slow to start so several of the teenagers climbed up the stack while some of it was still burning to pour more gasoline on top. One of the kids, on his way down, grabbed the Celtic jersey and tossed it into the flames to make sure it burned, to which the crowd went crazy. The marching band played extremely loud as the people danced to the music, watching the stack burn. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the fire grew large. The cab service would only pick us up if we left at a certain time due to safety precautions. As we walked out to the cabs we could see where all of the other fires were around the area by the huge plumes of smoke that rose to the sky. When we got we went to bed immediately because we were absolutely exhausted.

We woke up late again before heading out to the parade around eleven. We walked a very short distance to the parade and sat along the wall waiting for the parade to begin. The marches are in commemoration of the Protestant victory at the Battle of the Boyne. The PSNI has been trying to reduce the alcohol consumption during the parades, but there were still plenty of underage kids carrying alcohol in their backpacks. When we got there some of the marchers stood next to us and started drinking a beer, using us as a shield to protect them from the eyes of the cops.

We stayed at the parade for about an hour, watching the several groups march by, each with a different uniform, each representing a different area, and each with its own marching band. The thing that impressed me most about the people is their patriotism. The amount of passion they have for their country, their past is truly inspiring. From the bass drummers pounding the drums to death, to the elderly men still willing to walk the some four miles of the parade, everyone contributed somehow. In some ways that passion is a curse, because that same passion has caused a bitter rival between communities and did cause decades of violence that still haunts the people of the present.

Our afternoon correspondent today is Sam Boenker:

After the parade, we headed back to Queen’s Elms to start the long process of packing. First we had a little organizational meeting outlining the times for personal packing, dinner, communal packing (all of our dishes and hair appliances etc. went into storage), and our songwriting contest Irish Studies Got Talent. It also divided us up into clean up crews for preparing the meal, cleaning up after, and then for packing our kitchen belongings. Our five hours of packing also served as laundry time and time for us to finish up journals, blogs, and our found poems. After rigorous packing, we had a surprisingly good Mexican dinner prepared by Mr. Bizga and students. Then there was a lull followed shortly by organizing the dishes and appliances that needed to go into storage. After sorting out the surprisingly large amount of dishes, Geraldine arrived to help package them and to take them into storage. We wrapped each dish in a sheet of newspaper until two large plastic bins were full and then we sorted the leftovers. We had food, pots, pans, an ironing board, and appliances that had to be put in large garbage bags or carried individually. All of this was aggravated by the fact that Geraldine had a Mercedes sport car (two door, really small in length and width). Still, all of the stuff managed to fit snugly in her car with enough room for her to drive without being suffocated.

After the clean up, Mr. Bizga introduced us to a college aged Spanish man he met while doing laundry at Queen’s Elms. His name was Pere and he had just flown in from Barcelona to start an English language program later that week at Queen’s. He arrived in Belfast today and seemed unaware of the tense sectarian situation here and the fact that today was Orange Day. Mr. Bizga thought he would enjoy meeting people around his age. Ian and Tom talked to him extensively about soccer and Spain’s victory in the World Cup on Sunday.

Later that evening we held Irish Studies Got Talent after a quick survey on the Irish Studies Program. The contest consisted of writing lyrics to the tune of a popular Irish song and was judged by program coordinator Raymond Lennon. All of the performances were great and original but only three could win. First prize went to Vince, second to Katie Brennan, and third to Mr. Brennan (aka Orange Crush). After the contest Raymond gave a very touchy-feely, but genuine and sincere talk about how everyone has a role to play and the program’s uniqueness. We could all tell his genuine passion for the program and we were all grateful for it and his help in organizing and facilitating the program. After his talk almost everyone took a walk up to our local BP-grocery store, called Spar, to get snacks, drinks, and ice cream. After that my evening consisted of playing N64 games on my computer with Ian and Tom and Ryan but other, more sociable people on the program might have more interesting stories. After a little too long gaming session, we all headed off to bed to be rested for the long bus ride to Dublin.