Editing Belfast (section)

== Culture ==
{{Main|Culture of Belfast}}

=== Arts venues and festivals ===
From [[Georgian era|Georgian]] Belfast, the city retains a civic legacy. In addition to [[Clifton House, Belfast|Clifton House]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=admin |title=Home – Clifton House |url=https://cliftonbelfast.com/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |archive-date=6 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806084643/https://cliftonbelfast.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (Belfast Charitable Society, 1774), this includes the [[Linen Hall Library]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 January 2024 |title=Homepage |url=https://www.linenhall.com/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=The Linen Hall, Belfast |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206135224/https://www.linenhall.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (Belfast Society for Promoting Knowledge, 1788), the [[Ulster Museum]] (founded in 1833 by the [[Belfast Natural History Society]] as the Belfast Municipal Museum and Art Gallery), and the [[Botanic Gardens (Belfast)|Botanic Gardens]]<ref name="Botanic Gardens">{{Cite web |title=Botanic Gardens |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/botanicgardens |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council |archive-date=22 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222203042/https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/botanicgardens |url-status=live }}</ref> (established in 1828 by the Belfast Botanic and Horticultural Society).<ref name="Botanic Gardens" /> These remain important cultural venues: in the case of the Gardens, for outdoor festivities including the Belfast [[Melā]], the city's annual August celebration of global cultures.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 August 2023 |title=Belfast Mela: Thousands celebrate diversity at Botanic Gardens |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66634910 |access-date=2 February 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202191746/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66634910 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Of the many stage venues built in the nineteenth century, and film theatres built in the twentieth, there remains the [[Ulster Hall]] (1862),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ulster Hall, Belfast – Live Music, Comedy and Entertainment Events |url=https://www.ulsterhall.co.uk/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=Ulster Hall |archive-date=3 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240203005236/https://www.ulsterhall.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> which hosts concerts (including those of the [[Ulster Orchestra]]), [[European classical music|classical]] [[Concert#Recital|recital]]s and party-political meetings; the [[Grand Opera House, Belfast|Grand Opera House]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grand Opera House {{!}} Belfast Theatre {{!}} Theatre Tickets |url=https://www.goh.co.uk/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=Grand Opera House |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202152155/https://www.goh.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (1895) badly damaged in bomb blasts in the early 1990s, restored and enlarged 2020; the [[Strand Cinema]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=What's On – Strand Cinema Belfast |url=https://www.strandartscentre.com/whats-on/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |archive-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240415225841/https://strandartscentre.com/whats-on/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (1935) now being developed as an arts centre;<ref name="Leebody">{{Cite news |last=Leebody |first=Christopher |date=2 November 2023 |title=Iconic Belfast cinema building set to undergo £6.5m redevelopment |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/theatre-arts/iconic-belfast-cinema-building-set-to-undergo-65m-redevelopment/a1947551204.html |access-date=16 December 2023 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=16 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216174222/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/theatre-arts/iconic-belfast-cinema-building-set-to-undergo-65m-redevelopment/a1947551204.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[Queen's Film Theatre|Queens Film Theatre]] (QFT) (1968) focussed on [[Art film|art house]] and [[world cinema]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Independent Cinema in Northern Ireland |url=https://queensfilmtheatre.com/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=Queen's Film Theatre |archive-date=1 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201173643/https://queensfilmtheatre.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The two independent cinemas offer their screens for the [[Belfast Film Festival]] and the [[Belfast Festival at Queen's|Belfast International Arts Festival]].

The principal stage for drama remains the [[Lyric Theatre, Belfast|Lyric Theatre]] (1951, 2011), the largest employer of actors and other theatre professionals in the region.<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 February 2018 |title=Lyric Theatre announces plans to celebrate 50 years on the banks of the Lagan |url=https://www.culturenorthernireland.org/content/lyric-theatre-announces-plans-celebrate-50-years-banks-lagan |website=Culture Northern Ireland |access-date=6 February 2024 |archive-date=14 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211014140327/https://www.culturenorthernireland.org/content/lyric-theatre-announces-plans-celebrate-50-years-banks-lagan |url-status=dead }}</ref> At Queens University, drama students stage their productions at the [[Brian Friel]] Theatre, a 120-seat studio space (named after the renowned playwright).<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 September 2019 |title=Brian Friel Theatre {{!}} School of Arts, English and Languages {{!}} Queen's University Belfast |url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/ael/Discover/facilities/BrianFrielTheatre/index.html |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=qub.ac.uk |archive-date=26 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226173112/https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/ael/Discover/facilities/BrianFrielTheatre/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In November 2011, Belfast became the smallest city to host the [[2011 MTV Europe Music Awards|MTV Europe Music Awards]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Henry |first=Lesley-Ann |date=2 March 2011 |title=MTV Europe Music Awards to be held in Belfast |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/mtv-awards/mtv-europe-music-awards-to-be-held-in-belfast-28665779.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103141140/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/mtv-awards/mtv-europe-music-awards-to-be-held-in-belfast-28665779.html |archive-date=3 November 2013 |access-date=14 November 2011 |newspaper=The Belfast Telegraph }}</ref> The event was made possible by the 11,000-seat Odyssey Arena (today the [[SSE Arena, Belfast|SSE Arena]]) which opened in 2000 at the entrance to the [[Titanic Quarter]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Lucy |date=6 November 2011 |title=MTV Europe Music Awards 2011: as it happened |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8871749/MTV-EMAs-2011-as-it-happened.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230223659/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8871749/MTV-EMAs-2011-as-it-happened.html |archive-date=30 December 2013 |access-date=20 May 2014 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] }}</ref> A further large-scale venue is the [[Waterfront Hall]], a multi-purpose conference and entertainment centre that first opened in 1997. The main circular Auditorium seats 2,241 and is modelled on the [[Berliner Philharmonie|Berlin Philharmonic Hall]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Belfast Waterfront |url=https://www.virtualvisittours.com/belfast-waterfront/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=Virtual Visit Tours |archive-date=25 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225182822/https://www.virtualvisittours.com/belfast-waterfront/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2012, the [[Metropolitan Arts Centre]], the "MAC", was opened in the [[Cathedral Quarter, Belfast|Cathedral Quarter]], offering a performance mix of music, theatre, dance and visual art.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The MAC – Belfast |url=https://discovernorthernireland.com/things-to-do/the-mac-p672741 |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=Discover Northern Ireland |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206142908/https://discovernorthernireland.com/things-to-do/the-mac-p672741 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The city has a number of community arts, and arts education, centres, among them the [[Crescent Arts Centre]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome To The Crescent, Belfast Northern Ireland |url=https://crescentarts.org/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=The Crescent |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202194119/https://crescentarts.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in south Belfast, the Irish-language [[Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=Home |url=https://www.culturlann.ie/en |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=Cultúrlann }}</ref> in west Belfast, The Duncairn<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 January 2024 |title=The Duncairn |url=https://www.theduncairn.com/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=The Duncairn |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202194118/https://www.theduncairn.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in north Belfast and, in the east of the city, EastSide Arts.<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 September 2021 |title=Eastside Arts: Belfast, Northern Ireland |url=https://www.eastsidearts.net/ |access-date=2 February 2024 }}</ref>

[[Féile an Phobail]], a community arts organisation born out of the Internment Commemorations in the west of the city, stages one of the largest community festivals in Europe.<ref name="BBC">[http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/tv/programmes/feile/index.shtml Féile an Phobail: 20 Years On] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090102183925/http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/tv/programmes/feile/index.shtml|date=2 January 2009}} – [[BBC]]</ref> It has grown from its original ''August Féile'' on the Falls Road, to a year-round programme with a broad range of arts events, talks and discussions.<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 November 2021 |title=Féile an Phobail – Ireland's Biggest Community Arts Festival |url=https://feilebelfast.com/ |access-date=6 February 2024 |archive-date=8 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240208124058/https://feilebelfast.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== UNESCO City of Music ===
In November 2021, Belfast became the third city in the British Isles to be designated by [[UNESCO]] as [[City of Music (UNESCO)|City of Music]] (after Glasgow in 2008 and Liverpool in 2016) and is one of 59 cities worldwide participating in the [[Creative Cities Network|UNESCO Creative Cities Network]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Culture: Belfast music |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/belfastmusic |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206142909/https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/belfastmusic |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=8 November 2021 |title=Belfast awarded Unesco City of Music status |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-59213363 |website=BBC News |access-date=26 February 2024 |archive-date=26 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226220710/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-59213363 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The greater part of Belfast's music scene is accommodated in the city's [[pub]]s and clubs. [[Irish traditional music]] ("trad") is a staple, and is supported, along with [[Ulster Scots people|Ulster-Scots]] [[snare drum]] and [[Bagpipes|pipe]] music, by the city's TradFest summer school.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Belfast TradFest {{!}} Arts and Entertainment |url=https://visitbelfast.com/partners/belfast-tradfest/ |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=Visit Belfast |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206142908/https://visitbelfast.com/partners/belfast-tradfest/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Belfast TradFest |url=https://www.belfasttraditionalmusic.com/music-masterclasses |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=Belfast TradFest |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206142908/https://www.belfasttraditionalmusic.com/music-masterclasses |url-status=live }}</ref>

Music offerings also draw on the legacy of the punk<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Garth |date=10 September 2020 |title=Belfast and the Furious: How punk made its mark on Northern Ireland |url=https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news-punk-in-troubles-torn-northern-ireland-91176/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=The New European |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202192328/https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news-punk-in-troubles-torn-northern-ireland-91176/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and the underground club scene that developed during [[The Troubles]]<ref>{{cite web |title=The History of Belfast Underground Clubs |url=http://www.belfastundergroundclubs.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216113737/http://www.belfastundergroundclubs.com/ |archive-date=16 February 2016 |access-date=7 February 2016 |website=belfastundergroundclubs.com }}</ref> (associated with the groups [[Stiff Little Fingers]] and [[The Undertones]], and celebrated in the award-winning 2013 film, [[Good Vibrations (film)|Good Vibrations]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Murphy |first=Clare |date=3 July 2014 |title=Belfast's punk scene brings Good Vibrations … and Troubles |url=http://theconversation.com/belfasts-punk-scene-brings-good-vibrations-and-troubles-28708 |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=The Conversation |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202192327/http://theconversation.com/belfasts-punk-scene-brings-good-vibrations-and-troubles-28708 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Snow Patrol]]'s frontman [[Gary Lightbody]] led a line up of private donors that together with public funders established the [[Oh Yeah (music centre)|Oh Yeah music centre]] in 2008.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=5 February 2008 |title=Fate Awards planned for Belfast this month |url=http://www.hotpress.com/news/4413823.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908223157/http://www.hotpress.com/news/4413823.html |archive-date=8 September 2012 |access-date=14 October 2009 |magazine=[[Hot Press]]}}Note: Archived page, can be found.</ref> The Cathedral Quarter non-profit supports young musicians and these have engaged with a range of genres including [[Alternative rock]], [[Indie rock]], [[Electronica]], [[Post rock]], [[Post punk]], [[Crossover (music)|Crossover]], and [[Experimental rock]].

Queens University hosts the [[Sonic Arts Research Centre]] (SARC), an institute for music-based practice and research. Its purpose designed building, Sonic Laboratory and multichannel studios were opened by [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], the German composer and "father of electronic music",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Worby |first=Robert |date=2017 |title=Stockhausen: The Father of Electronic Music |url=https://sites.barbican.org.uk/stockhausen/ |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=sites.barbican.org.uk |archive-date=9 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209005044/https://sites.barbican.org.uk/stockhausen/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in 2004.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 February 2017 |title=About {{!}} Sonic Arts Research Centre {{!}} Queen's University Belfast |url=https://www.qub.ac.uk/sarc/about/ |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=qub.ac.uk }}</ref>

=== Media ===
[[File:BBC Northern Ireland Belfast.jpg|thumb|[[Broadcasting House, Belfast]], headquarters of the BBC in Northern Ireland]]
Belfast is the home of the ''[[Belfast Telegraph]]'', ''[[Irish News]]'' and, first printed in 1737,''[[The News Letter]]'', the oldest [[English language|English-language]] daily newspaper in the world still in publication.<ref>{{cite web |year=2007 |title=Research Guide: Irish News & Newspapers |url=http://www.bc.edu/libraries/research/guides/s-irishnews/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809020149/http://www.bc.edu/libraries/research/guides/s-irishnews/ |archive-date=9 August 2007 |access-date=24 May 2007 |publisher=Boston College }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Johnston |first=Ruth |title=Belfast News Letter |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/belfast/newsletter.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061107233738/http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/belfast/newsletter.shtml |archive-date=7 November 2006 |access-date=24 May 2007 |website=Your Place and Mine |publisher=BBC }}</ref>

The city is the headquarters of [[BBC Northern Ireland]], and [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] station [[Ulster Television|UTV]]. The Irish public service broadcaster, [[Raidió Teilifís Éireann|RTÉ]] has a studio in the city.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://about.rte.ie/contact/contact-details/ |title=RTÉ Studios and Offices - Contact Details |access-date=15 September 2024 |archive-date=15 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915133002/https://about.rte.ie/contact/contact-details/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The national radio station is [[BBC Radio Ulster]] with commercial radio stations such as [[Q Radio Belfast|Q Radio]], [[U105]], [[Blast 106]] and Irish-language station [[Raidió Fáilte]]. [[Queen's Radio]], a student-run radio station broadcasts from [[Queen's University Belfast Students' Union|Queen's University Students' Union]].

One of Northern Ireland's two community TV stations, [[NvTv]], is based in the [[Cathedral Quarter, Belfast|Cathedral Quarter]] of the city. Broadcasting only over the Internet is Homely Planet, the Cultural Radio Station for Northern Ireland, supporting community relations.<ref>{{cite web |title=About Homely Planet |url=http://www.homelyplanet.org/about-homely-planet/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205212122/http://www.homelyplanet.org/about-homely-planet/ |archive-date=5 December 2013 |access-date=20 May 2014 |publisher=Homelyplanet.org }}</ref>

=== Parades ===
Since the lifting in 1872 of a twenty-year [[Party Processions Act 1850|party processions ban]], [[Orange Order|Orange]] parades in celebration of "[[the Twelfth]]" [of July] and the bonfires of the previous evening, the eleventh, have been a fixed fixture of the Belfast calendar.<ref name="Bryan2009"/> On what became a public holiday in 1926,<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 February 2020 |title=Where did bank holidays originate from? |url=https://timetastic.co.uk/blog/history-of-bank-holidays/ |access-date=5 February 2024 |website=Timetastic – A blog about taking and managing time off work. |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210528/https://timetastic.co.uk/blog/history-of-bank-holidays/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Belfast and guest Orange lodges (from both across Ulster and Scotland) with their pipe, flute, drum and accordion bands muster at Carlisle Circus, and parade through the city centre past the City Hall and out the Lisburn Road to a gathering in "the field" at Barnett Demesne.<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 November 2023 |title=Orange Order to stick to traditional Belfast route |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-67445302 |access-date=5 February 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210528/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-67445302 |url-status=live }}</ref> While some local feeder and return marches have a history of sectarian disturbance, in recent years, events have generally passed off without serious incident.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McParland |first=Conor |date=29 June 2023 |title=Controversial July 12 Orange parade past Ardoyne banned by Parades Commission |url=https://belfastmedia.com/july-12-parade-rejected-north-belfast |access-date=5 February 2024 |website=Belfast Media Group |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210529/https://belfastmedia.com/july-12-parade-rejected-north-belfast |url-status=live }}</ref> The tradition is documented and celebrated in the Museum of Orange Heritage on the Cregagh Road in East Belfast.<ref name=":24">{{Cite web |title=ABOUT US {{!}} Museum of Orange Heritage |url=https://www.orangeheritage.co.uk/about-us |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=Museum |archive-date=23 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223001224/https://www.orangeheritage.co.uk/about-us |url-status=live }}</ref>

What is sometimes referred to as the Catholic equivalent of the Orangemen,<ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Issues: Parades: Parading Organisations |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/parade/organis.htm |access-date=5 February 2024 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk |archive-date=22 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240722162106/https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/parade/organis.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> the much smaller [[Ancient Order of Hibernians]], confines its parades to nationalist areas in west and north Belfast,<ref>{{Cite web |title=viewparade – Northern Ireland Parades Commission |url=https://www.paradescommission.org/viewparade.aspx?id=79089 |access-date=5 February 2024 |website=paradescommission.org |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210529/https://www.paradescommission.org/viewparade.aspx?id=79089 |url-status=live }}</ref> as do republicans commemorating the [[Easter Rising]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 April 2023 |title=Republican Easter parades taking place throughout Belfast this week |url=https://belfastmedia.com/easter-parades-a18f01d7-755e-48f0-be5a-2824e987434d |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=Belfast Media Group |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206095346/https://belfastmedia.com/easter-parades-a18f01d7-755e-48f0-be5a-2824e987434d |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 1993, in a break with a history of nationalist exclusion from the city centre, a parade marking the [[Operation Demetrius|introduction of internment]] in the 1971 proceeded up [[Royal Avenue, Belfast|Royal Avenue]] toward the City Hall, where it was addressed by Sinn Féin president, [[Gerry Adams]], in front of the statue of [[Queen Victoria]].<ref name="Bryan2009">{{Citation |last=Bryan |first=Dominic |title=Negotiating Civic Space in Belfast or The Tricolour: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow' |date=2009 |pages=11 |url=https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/negotiating-civic-space-in-belfast-or-the-tricolour-here-today-go |access-date=5 February 2024 |publisher=Economic and Social Research Council |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210529/https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/negotiating-civic-space-in-belfast-or-the-tricolour-here-today-go |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since 1998, the Belfast City Council has funded a city-centre [[Saint Patrick's Day|St. Patrick's Day]] (17 March) celebration. It is organised by [[Féile an Phobail]] as a "carnival" complete with a parade featuring dancers, circus entertainers, floats, and giant puppets. Critical of what they perceive as an evolving nationalist festival, unionists on the City Council observe that "a lot of the Protestant Unionist Loyalist (PUL) community will stay away from the city centre on St Patrick's Day, the same as some stay away on the Twelfth of July".<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 February 2023 |title=St Patrick's Day in Belfast 'turning into St Patrick's Week', says DUP |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/st-patricks-day-in-belfast-turning-into-st-patricks-week-says-dup/1790730276.html |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206094640/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/st-patricks-day-in-belfast-turning-into-st-patricks-week-says-dup/1790730276.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1991, Belfast hosted its first [[gay pride]] event. Belfast Pride, culminating in a city-centre parade at the end of July, is now one of the biggest annual festivals in the city and, according to its organisers, the largest [[LGBT]]+ festival in Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Belfast Pride |url=https://www.communityni.org/organisation/belfast-pride |website=communityni.org |access-date=5 February 2024 |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210528/https://www.communityni.org/organisation/belfast-pride |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=29 July 2023 |title=Belfast Pride 2023: Thousands take part in parade |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66313139 |access-date=5 February 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210529/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66313139 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Irish Congress of Trade Unions]] organises an annual city-centre May Day march and rally.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 May 2002 |title=Parade recalls trade union victims |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/parade-recalls-trade-union-victims/28126477.html |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206094639/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/parade-recalls-trade-union-victims/28126477.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[International Workers' Day|International Workers Day]] has been a public holiday since 1978.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The history of May Day |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/the-history-of-may-day |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=National Trust |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206094639/https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/the-history-of-may-day |url-status=live }}</ref>