Protestant & Catholic Divide

Northern Ireland has had a long violent disagreement between these two sub sectors of the Christian Faith; the United Kingdom is a strong protestant nation while the Republic of Ireland is a a strong catholic nation; Northern Ireland is now part of the United Kingdom but terrorist group the IRA were trying to make Northern Ireland part of the Republic of Ireland, its a long confusing history between territory & faith. Growing up in 70s, 80s and early 90s Britain you would of witnessed devastating terrorist attacks in the many British cities, including attacks on members of parliment of Westminister, such as the attempted killing of Ex British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, other events which has caused this divide is when the British army murded many people on what is now called 'Bloody Sunday'.

If you travel around the countryside of Northern Ireland today you could still see each village and town is divided, I remember traveling around in my friend's car, you would come to one village where it had the British Union Flag flying high at the entrance and exits of the village but only a few minutes down the road you would find another village with the Republic of Ireland flag flying high.

Every year there is a festival to celebrate the Battle of the Boyne were large piles of wood is stacked up high decorated with either the union or Republic of Ireland flag, the pile of wood is then set alight causing a large bonfire, the night sky of Northern Ireland is lit up that night with the orange glow of the fire that is dotted around the country.

For years I have personally studied this topic out of interest, but to be able to see the divided communities myself was an eye opener. Another incident whilst I was in Northern Ireland was when me and my friends decided to go to Belfast for the evening, we booked into a cheap hostel on the edges of the city centre, when I looked at the map to see what part of Belfast we were in I noticed we wernt far from the Shankill Road which is a road known to have a violent past all to do with this Protestant & Catholic divide, my friend mother was a little nervous about our safety staying at this one particular hostel as it was only seconds away from a pub that was full of IRA supporters, the pub itself looked rundown on this dark city backstreet, all the windows had metal fencing on them and the main entrance to the pub was protected by a large metal gate, it truly didn't look like a welcoming place for people who were from the mainland of Britain, I agreed with my friend and decided to move a little closer to the city centre just for safety procotions

There isn't much else to say in this small blog, but I thought it would be important to mention this as it is a memory that is so strong in my mind and also the reason why Northern Ireland is like what it is today.

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