Eleventh Night

In Northern Ireland, the Eleventh Night or 11th Night, also known as "bonfire night", is the night before the Twelfth of July, an Ulster Protestant celebration. On this night, large towering bonfires are lit in Protestant loyalist neighbourhoods, and are often accompanied by street parties and loyalist marching bands. The bonfires are mostly made of wooden pallets. They originally celebrated the Williamite conquest of the 1690s, which began the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. Eleventh Night events are regularly condemned for sectarianism or ethnic hatred against Irish Catholics and Irish nationalists, such as the burning of Irish tricolours, and for damage and pollution caused. Some are controlled by loyalist paramilitaries, and authorities may be wary of taking action against controversial bonfires."Paramilitary control of loyalist bonfires exposed in leaked report"
''The Irish News'', 26 February 2018. Not all bonfires are controversial however, and there have been attempts to de-politicize some bonfires and make them more family-friendly and environmentally-friendly. In 2021, there were about 250 Eleventh Night bonfires."Eleventh Night: Politicians call for bonfire regulations"
''BBC News'', 13 July 2021.

Origins and overview

Like The Twelfth, the Eleventh Night bonfires celebrate the Glorious Revolution (1688) and the victory of Protestant king William of Orange over the Catholic James II during the Williamite-Jacobite War (1689–1691), which began the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. When King William landed at Carrickfergus in 1690, his supporters across Ulster, the northern province in Ireland, lit bonfires to celebrate. Some of those who did not join in the celebrations were attacked by the Williamites. There is also a belief that the bonfires commemorate the lighting of fires on the hills of counties Antrim and Down to help Williamite ships navigate through Belfast Lough at night."The boy and the bonfire"
''Belfast Telegraph'', 9 July 2010.

Traditionally, both Catholics and Protestants in Ulster lit bonfires at Midsummer, May Day (''Bealtaine'') and Halloween (''Samhain''), which were non-sectarian.Gailey, Alan. "The Bonfire in North Irish Tradition". ''Folklore'', vol. 88, No. 1 (1977). pp. 3–38 In the 18th century it also became a tradition for Ulster Protestants to light bonfires on 11 July to commemorate the Williamite victory, and for Catholics to light bonfires on 14 August to mark the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.

Eleventh Night bonfires are built mostly of wooden pallets and lumber by local young men and boys. They begin gathering and stacking the material weeks beforehand, and often keep watch at the bonfire site overnight to ensure they are "not lit prematurely by saboteurs".Smithey, Lee. ''Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland''. Oxford University Press, 2011. pp.93–97 Community bonfire groups raise funds to pay for wood and sometimes cranes, while some district councils also provide funding through cultural grants. Historically, bonfires were smaller and more numerous, but over time communities have joined together to consolidate resources to build much bigger bonfires, often due to lack of space. The lighting of the bonfire is typically accompanied by a large street party and loyalist marching band.

Issues

Sectarianism

Eleventh Night bonfires often involve sectarian displays. Symbols of Irish nationalism/republicanism (such as the Irish tricolour), and symbols of Catholicism, are often burnt on the bonfires. The tricolours on such bonfires may be daubed with sectarian slogans such as "Kill All Taigs" (KAT) or "Kill All Irish" (KAI). Effigies, and posters of Irish nationalist election candidates, are also sometimes burnt, which has been condemned as "inciting hatred". More recently, symbols of the large Polish immigrant community were burnt on some bonfires, which was described as "racist intimidation".

During the Troubles, loyalist paramilitary groups like the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) used Eleventh Night bonfires to hold "shows of strength", which involved masked gunmen firing volleys of shots into the air. After the conflict, some bonfire events have continued to be controlled by current or former loyalist paramilitary members. A 2018 government-backed report noted they were a way for paramilitaries to "extend their legitimacy and control community activities". In some cases, attempts by the authorities to intervene in controversial bonfires has sparked paramilitary violence.

Safety and environmental harm

Eleventh Night bonfires have raised health and safety concerns, as well as environmental ones. Bonfires are often built to be as large as possible. Some are built near houses and other buildings, which need to be boarded up and doused with water by firefighters to protect them. In some cases, homes have caught fire, and bonfires have collapsed near crowds and onto roads. According to the BBC
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