What do you think of my bonfire?
Every year, Catholics and certain Protestants go on vacation on 11 and 12 July to avoid the Orange Order's holiday: the conservative Northern Irish Protestant organisation commemorates the start of Protestant rule in Ireland with huge bonfires and parades.
It sounds festive, but some practices keep Northern Irish Protestant identity anchored in its opposition to Irish nationalism. Bonfires can be especially controversial. In some areas, symbols of Irish nationalism (like flags and images of politicians) are regularly burned with them, joined more recently by anti-immigration displays. This year saw controversy over the burning of images of an immigrant boat and the rap trio Kneecap.
Current practices are more of an issue than the holiday itself. Hate crime investigations are an annual tradition as much as the bonfires are. But the size of these structures, and the influence loyalist paramilitaries often have over them, make it hard for local authorities to take them down.