Orange Walk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Orange Walks are parades held annually by members of the Orange Order during the traditional "marching season", most notably in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and in most other countries in the Commonwealth.
These typically culminate in the 12th of July celebrations which mark the Protestant Prince William of Orange's victory over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
Notably, the media started calling them "Orange marches" since the start of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and this has become a popular descriptive term for the parades.
Many of the parades have been the cause of sectarian clashes between unionist Protestants and Nationalist Roman Catholics. Leaders of the Order note that it is not the intention of the Order to stir things up, but trouble usually finds them anyway.[1] Of some 2,300 or so annual parades throughout Northern Ireland, only some half dozen to a dozen are considered 'contentious' in that their routes pass near or through Nationalist areas where trouble often occurs.
Marches were common in Australia at the turn of the 20th century, the Kalgoorlie and Boulder marches in 1890s and 1900s attracting conflict between Catholics and Protestant marchers.
Orange Walks on the 12th of July were once large public occasions in Canada, particularly in the provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick that have a strong Loyalist heritage. In recent decades turnout has dwindled there somewhat, although parades in Canada do continue.
Orange Walks have also declined in England, but there is still a notable one in Liverpool.
