Orange Fest
They’re calling it a Fest now.
It’s the biggest day of the year for the tradition in Ireland that is represented by just as much space on the national flag as is represented by the green.
It’s July 12th.
People will wave flags and banners of green white and orange, claim to be Irish by way of their Scots-Irish ancestry, yet choose to ignore that part of the Irish flag which was put there, however unsolicited, for their tradition.
Instead they will choose to celebrate all things Celtic about Ireland and Scotland, their Gaelic languages, their traditional music and their folklore. They’ll rename orange as gold, and they might even do it wearing a kilt.
Some people, in intending to celebrate all things Irish, will even celebrate music from Scotland, though ignoring the music of the Scots-Irish.
Long before the mass immigration of Irish Catholics to North America from a famine-stricken land, a mass-immigration of Irish Protestants to North America took place for reasons of economic hardship. So before Gaelic Ireland arrived in America, the Ulster Protestants had multiplied through generations, and are at least as significant.
The word “Irish” can mean many things, and indeed to a significant group of people it can mean “British”. So before you disown the “London” in front of “Derry”, shouldn’t you find out what it is about your Irish ancestry you are celebrating, and where those celebrating with you are from?
I do disown that “London” myself by the way, much as I like London itself, but then that’s because I know where I come from.
Read more about the Ulster-Scots on UlsterAncestry.com
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