If you want to see the 17th century squaring up to the 21st and letting it know what it thinks of it, come to Northern Ireland for the Twelfth of July. There, you will see huge, tall, wooden pyres set alight, on which the election posters of politicians deemed disloyal will be burned along with the flag of the neighbouring Republic of Ireland. Sometimes there are even effigies of hated politicians dangling from gibbets or in coffins.
As these Eleventh Night bonfires blaze, you will hear the beating of drums and shouts of “No Surrender!” This is the cry associated with the Siege of Derry in 1689, when the army of King James was seen off. The following day, the Twelfth, marks the triumph of King William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, and today Orangemen remember it by marching with bands along ‘the Queen's Highway’ through every part of Northern Ireland.
All you need to know to get the gist of this is that James was Catholic, William Protestant; that the ‘disloyalty’ is to a Protestant state that no longer exists; that KAT, which you may also see on large banners pinned to some of the bonfires, means “Kill All Taigs” – and that “Taigs” is a derogatory term for Catholics.
