The Twelfth: three writers reveal what it means to them
From Lambeg drums and bands to the long walk to the Field, this week tens of thousandsofpeoplewillonceagaincelebratethe327thanniversaryoftheBattleof theBoyneat19venuesacrossNorthernIreland.Weaskedthreewriterstoexplain...
‘It’s a nodd but very colourful street party’
There are primarily two Twelfths in Northern Ireland. The rural Twelfth. And the urban Twelfth. I grew up with one. I grew into the other. The country Twelfth I remember from my youth was, and still is, a more understated occasion than what is now called Orangefest in Belfast.
But as in the city it is above all a day out for family and friends. It is about carnival, not clash.
It is an annual get-together, where old acquaintances salute each other from the kerbside to the ranks and back and big parties picnic together in The Field. Excitable children still run free, as they always have, throwing their stall-bought band poles skywards with hazardous aim.
And old men still watch them with a wistful eye flitting back down the many years of their own long lifetime. Each Twelfth, another marker in the passage from child to adult to great age. Each memory touched by poignant recall of friends and relatives now long gone.
What I recall from the Twelfths of my youth is the excitement
For many kids the bands are an outlet for musical talent
of a day out. The smell of cut grass and the fierce blatter of the Lambeg — that great, deafening, pounding beat so encompassing that you felt your very heart hammer in time.
It was flaccid tomato sandwiches and fizzy orange. And icecream. Everybody ate ice-cream.
The 99 was as much a part of Orange tradition as the bowler hat.
It was your uncles giving you money which could then be spent with abandon on all sorts of tat in the stalls.
There were flute bands. Accordion bands. And wailing bagpipes. I wasn’t a fan of the bagpipes when I was young. I am now.
There were technicolour banners blowing in the breeze — the occasional King Billy and many stern-faced men with Bibles.
There were men gathered in clusters clutching Guinness bottles, discussing the price of hay, and teenagers juking past them with illicit carry-outs. Ah yes, the drink ... The bottle, not the battle, to misquote the Orangefest campaign.
It would be fair to say liquor has traditionally featured prominently in the Twelfth celebration, whether rural or urban.
In recent years in Belfast the scale of the drinking — and it has to be said, the resultant urination — has reached tidal proportions.
I’ve seen young people seated on a wall of six-packs casually drinking their way to oblivion with beer and fluorescent beverages. And not just young people. There are revellers of all ages who really cannot hold their drink and behave like maggots.
All that is to be condemned of course.
The organisers of Orangefest (I admire the sentiment, but hate that word) deserve credit for trying to limit the consumption of the rocket fuel. But they have their work cut out.
And, yes, there are other aspects of the mammoth parade that critics will raise objection to.
Few examples of cultural expression come under the microscope quite so extensively as the Twelfth. I’ve been to the Notting Hill carnival. There are excesses there too.
But the bad behaviour of a minority does not overshadow the reality that the Twelfth in both city and country setting is still a grand day out for tens of thousands of decent people from all sorts of backgrounds who are there, not to annoy their neighbours, not to cause offence, but just to enjoy themselves.
It is also a chance for the thousands of young people who walk in the bands to show off their really impressive skills. It’s an often overlooked or downplayed fact, but for many working class kids the bands are an outlet for a musical talent they might never have discovered otherwise.
This is their tradition. Their culture. You do not have to approve of it, or want to participate in it, to respect it.
The Twelfth parades now attract an evolving audience. Many, many tourists for whom the Twelfth is very much Camerafest.
And some of our newer fellow citizens who turn out to watch and to jig in time to the music, to have some fun along with their neighbours. To them it’s a street party. An odd one. A colourful one. A celebration.
And that’s exactly what it is to the tens of thousands of people who will turn out again this week to watch the bands, to meet up with old friends, to catch up with family and just enjoy a great day out in — hopefully — the sunshine.
In the city and in the country, that’s the real Twelfth.
Who could object to an Orangeman living their lives by verses from New Testament?
Most days in Ballyclare I walk or drive under an arch that was recently put up ahead of the Twelfth. Among the various symbols on it is a depiction of a black book with the words — “Holy Bible”.
During a recent walk in War Memorial Park, I noticed a small plaque beside one of the trees with the words “Kilbride Bible and Crown Defenders LOL 1107”.
As an organisation, the Orange Order in its public position clearly emphasises the importance of the Bible.
When I saw the symbol of the Bible on the arch I was drawn back to my days in St James’ Primary School in Aldergrove, where the Bible was also emphasised. One of the teachers there taught my class not only a reverence for it, but also encouraged the learning of key verses. I am someone who loves the scriptures, who prays and reads them each day.
As a member of a church which offers a daily diet of scripture at Mass and in the divine office, and which encourages not only the study of scripture but also offers various ways of praying with them, I welcome such a prominent place given to the Bible.
It is therefore no surprise then to find the instruction to live by the Bible in the Qualifications of an Orangeman: “He should honour and diligently study the holy scriptures, and make them the rule of his faith and practice”.
I’m also in agreement with these words from the Qualifications: “He should never take the name of God in vain, but abstain from all cursing and profane language, and use every opportuni- ty of discouraging those, and all other sinful practices, in others.”
At St James’ Primary School, I learned the commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain”.
It is very clear that the Bible shapes the Qualifications: “His conduct should be guided by wisdom and prudence, and marked by honesty, temperance, and sobriety, the glory of God and the welfare of man, the honour of his Sovereign, and the good of his country, should be the motives of his actions”.
I imagine the reference to honesty, temperance and sobriety may have been inspired by these words from St Paul: “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy (Romans 13:13).
In a few days time, the annual Twelfth parades and demonstrations will be upon us. Who could object to an Orangeman or a bandsman wanting to live their lives by verses such as the following from the New Testament?
“Let us therefore make effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:19).
I applaud an organisation which practises these edifying words of St Paul: “Love your neighbour as yourself. Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law” (Roman 13:10).
While the Qualifications of an Orangeman have much I appreciate, I do take issue with this section: “He should strenuously oppose the fatal errors and doctrines of the Church of Rome and other non-reformed faiths, and scrupulously avoid countenancing (by his presence or otherwise) any act or ceremony of Roman Catholic or other non-reformed worship; he should, by all lawful means, resist the ascendancy, encroachments, and the extension of their power, ever abstaining from all uncharitable words, actions, or sentiments towards all those who do not practice the reformed and Christian faith.”
These words seem to have no appreciation of what I might call the “reforms” of the second Vatican council (1962-1965) of the Catholic Church, which among many other things placed a greater emphasis on the Bible.
While not using the word “reform”, Pope Francis seems to encourage it for the Catholic Church today: “In her ongoing discernment, the church can also come to see that certain customs not directly connected to the heart of the Gospel, even some which have deep historical roots, are no longer properly understood and appreciated. Some of these customs may be beautiful, but they no longer serve as a means of communicating the Gospel. We should not be afraid to re-examine them” (Evangelii Gaudium, #43).
In May of this year I visited the Museum of Orange Heritage in Belfast on International Museum Day and I plan to visit it again. I was especially interested in the section dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. This reminded me of how Martin Luther, in challenging the abuses that he saw in the Catholic Church, set off the Reformation.
Now 500 years on, I wonder if the Catholic Church and the Orange Order might attempt to see evidence of ongoing reformation in the other. The refrain “reformed and always reforming” applies to all of us because every organisation needs reform. Father Magill is administrator of Ballyclare and Ballygowan parish