History, Conflict, and Public Display in Northern Ireland

Abstract

Ifirst went to Northern Ireland to study Halloween, but I was struck (as I think most Americans are) by the preponderance of visual display. Brilliant multicolored murals adorn the walls and gable ends of houses; curbstones are in some neighborhoods painted red, white, and blue; in others, green, white, and gold. Starting in the spring, it seemed as if there was a parade almost every other day, and indeed, there well may have been; a Belfast city official told me there were 3,500 parades a year in Northern Ireland, which is about the size of Connecticut. The calendrical holidays in which I was interested, such as Halloween, had major public components such as bonfires and fireworks—and, again, parades. Likewise, the rites of passage of the life cycle have strongly visual public customs associated with them. Sometime before her wedding, for instance, a bride-to-be might be taken out to a party, gotten helplessly drunk, decorated with shaving cream, tin cans, and ribbons, and left tied to a tree or pole in some public area (Ballard 1998). Likewise, funerals customarily involve public processions of the coffin through the streets. Flags—British flags, Irish flags, Ulster flags—are ubiquitous. In addition to all this are the patrols of British soldiers, on foot and in armored vehicles through the streets, a visual and tangible presence of another sort.