I was going to talk to you guys about my newsletter this month (it’s new! It’s exciting! It’s at tamoorewrites@substack.com), BUT I have the cold and it’s my birthday tomorrow. So I’m going to leave talk about marketing, open stats, and my free-wheeling approach to actually being good at it until next month. You instead get my new, exciting 12th July talk!
Basically, I’ve cracking jokes to people about my birthday being on the 12th and it has come to my attention that some people don’t know much about the 12th and therefore don’t realise I’m hysterical.
So! Prepare yourself for a quick and dirty (and very simplified) run down on the 12th July.
William of Orange, aka King Billy
The 12th is basically all about King William of Orange and how he solidified his and his wife’s reign, and the protestant hegemony over Ireland, when he defeated King James VII at the Battle of the Boyne. Every year on the 12th of July the Protestant community in Northern Ireland (Scotland and Canada) celebrate that victory with pomp and circumstance.
This is a very brief account of a tummultuous time in history that had long term consequences for Ireland and our religious problems, so…like I said, don’t consider it complete.
Bonfires
Every year on the 11th night we have celebratory bonfire parties. Now, you might have an image in your head of some sort of haystack high, backyard bonefire and people toasting genially around it. That’s because other cultures approaches to bonfires are WEAK.
This is one of the local bonfires in my town. Check out the small man on top for height. This things are constructed using pallets and cranes. Also some tyres, but we’re trying to phase that out.
Flags
There are a lot of political flags around at this time of year. More than is considered generally acceptable in most UK towns.
I am looking forward to my English friend’s freaked out reaction to the AGGRESSIVE amount of Union Jacks hung just everwhere when she comes over in August.
12th July Parade
When I talk about there being a parade on my birthday, this is what I mean. As a child I did think this was all for me.
People literally line the streets. The dude with the big drum is the lambeg player, mostly the aim there is to hit the lambeg as hard as possible in roughly the right area. They don’t only march on the 12th, there are other parades over the summer months. As someone who lives here the sound of a flute band in the distance when you’re driving can strike a chill into your heart, because if you get stuck behind them you’re going nowhere.
One side effect of the 12th Day marches is that Northern Ireland has a lot of kids from like pretty disenfranchised estates who can play the flute. And they are VERY COMPETITIVE, so you have to be pretty good to get in.
Obviously, a lot of this is pretty contentious. There are people who think the Orange Order shouldn’t be allowed to march at all, and others who think that the Orangemen shouldn’t make any concessions to what people want. It’s still pretty sectarian in a lot of ways, most ways, and we’re still a culture that struggles to abide with each other (which is why we don’t currently have a government) but I’ve never had to go to school or work on my birthday so there’s that.