The Bonfire Hut

Each year, before the July 12 Orangemen parades, Loyalist (Protestant) areas throughout Northern Ireland light massive bonfires. These are done in commemoration of the bonfires on the hills of Antrim and Down that were lit to aid King William III's navigation through Belfast Lough at night. William landed at Carrickfergus to fight the exiled King James II, who had been trying to regain his British kingdoms. Known as “The Battle of the Boyne” William’s defeat of James ensured Protestant rule over Ireland.

The City of Belfast allows these fires to go on. In fact, they have been trying to market the Orangemen’s celebrations as a tourist event. For that to happen, the partisan elements will have to be toned down—a lot.

My son-in-law-to-be, Kristofor, and I ventured out to the site of the bonfire construction on Friday the 8^th to see what was going on. As we approached the fence, a boy called out, “You get in through there,” as he pointed to a break in the fence. Taking that as an invitation, we walked in. Two men about my age were with a group of teenage boys. I walked up and asked how tall the structure would get. Steven and Doogie were very friendly and offered us a warm beer from a 20-pack of Carlsberg. Kris and I joined the party as the men told us about the bonfire and the parades. It got dark and started to rain. “Into the hut! Into the hut!” the cry went out, and we were invited into a shelter made of shipping pallets with old doors for a roof. As luck would have it, I broke my own rule and left my camera at home. I had to go back the next morning to get a picture of our rain shelter.

We had a great time. More kids came to the area to see what was going on. “There’s two Americans in there,” the kids would say. Then someone would poke a head in the shelter and ask where we were from. The next question was, “Is that near Las Vegas?” The boys wanted to know if we had ever met famous rappers and the girls wanted to know about Lady Ga Ga. “Are ya’s famous?” a young girl asked. They had a million questions about American kids and life in the states. They were as thrilled to have us there as we were to be there. They remarked that it was indeed rare for Americans to be in their bonfire rain hut.

The rain stopped, and the beer gone, Kris and I said, "Goodnite," to Steven and Doogie and the kids and made our way home thankful we had the other there to verify that this did indeed happen.