ORANGEMAN'S DAY CELEBRATION

"The Orange Institution (more commonly known as the Orange Order or Orange Lodge) is a Protestant fraternal organisation based mainly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, though it has lodges throughout the Commonwealth and the United States. The Institution was founded during 1796 near the village of Loughgall in County Armagh, Ireland. It is strongly linked to unionism. Its name is a tribute to Dutch-born Protestant William of Orange, who had defeated the army of Catholic James II at the Battle of the Boyne (1690).

"Observers have accused the Orange Institution of being a sectarian organisation, due to its goals and its exclusion of Roman Catholics as members. Non-creedal, non-trinitarian denominations (such as Mormons, Unitarians and some branches of Quakers) are also ineligible for membership. (These denominations do not exist with numerous members where most Orange lodges are established.)"

Thanks to the anonymous poster who contributed this to Wikipedia.


The opposite of Orange, of course, is green -- Catholic. There is a LOT of political schism and paranoia under this simple parade, but we'll just stick to the images, with the note that a parade is more than a celebration: it is a show of strength. Here, so far away from Britain, on July12, 1926, it is still possible to muster a flag, a band, some vehicles and a lot of people to both march and line the sides of the road. I'm very pleased to see "Hemings Drug and Bookstore" in the background!


The women are all up in front, wearing white and sashes. I don't know why there isn't a photo of them. It appears that the photographer might have changed locations since the beginning of the parade.


One hopes that the vehicles came at the rear of the parade for the sake of people who didn't want to dirty their shoes in "horse exhaust." This team appears to be ponies. The riders in this carriage seem to have a fur over their shoulders in August. Does it demonstrate wealth or is it symbolic in some other way? There is no sign or decoration on the vehicles. Maybe they weren't official participants, but just came to see the marching people. The wall in the back would suggest they were passing a wood yard.