Editing Belfast (section)

=== 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>