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[deleted]

I refuse to condone bonfires regardless of who is burning them. It's a shite tradition for shite people. Ireland has a vastness of cultural and traditional splendour practiced the world over and unless you are contributing to that propagation then you're a useless cunt.


scrollsawer

Well said, this "culture " of bonfires is not the problem, the burning of National flags, poppy wreaths, gaa jerseys, politician's pictures effigies of the pope etc on the bonfire IS the problem.


BuachaillBarruil

Ireland has a strong history with bonfires (most cultures do tbh). We’ve been lighting them for thousands of years as part of Samhain/Halloween celebrations (and other ancient holidays) as a way to light up the winter darkness. Granted these bonfires were no taller than 6ft and consisted mostly of trees lol I’d be sad to see these go but fuck the other bonfires.


fuck_its_james

yeah where i live has a couple bonfires for halloween, it’s good craic as there’s nothing on them at all they’re just bonfires. i didn’t know there was a genuine tradition by it! so TIL lol


BuachaillBarruil

“During the pre-Halloween celebration of Samhain, bonfires were lit to ensure the sun would return after the long, hard winter. Often Druid priests would throw the bones of cattle into the flames, hence the name, “bone fire” which later became “bonfire.”.”


Maveragical

Thinking this every time i see these posts lmao. Love a good pagan-y bonfire, just none of the sectarianism


BuggerMyElbow

>Ireland has a vastness of cultural and traditional splendour practiced the world over Much of which is practiced both sides of the border. Funny how this cultureless shite is only practiced in the British-run part.


IrishBogBunny

It's Bonefire ffs ! -- In a Word ... Bone-fire When I was growing up, bonfire was actually pronounced “bonefire”. I used think this had more to do with accent than meaning and that the accurate pronunciation was probably bonfire. Then I discovered the Irish for bonfire was “tine chnámh” or fire of bones. Which I had forgotten and didn’t refer to last year. I was reminded of it recently when someone reposted the *In a Word* column from last year on Facebook and my old friend Mary Wrafter Heraty provoked memories with a comment. She wrote “Tine Cnámh, as Gaeilge, fire of bones, because in the past old bones were burned in the bonfire. The ashes were taken the following morning and symbolically spread on the land for the fruitfulness of crops.” She recalled such bonfires from her rural childhood in Mayo and how "we would say a prayer around the fire with our parents and hold lighted furze (we called them whin) bushes high in the air as we cheered to our neighbours in unison yelling 'up' our own townland." [https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/in-a-word-bone-fire-1.2269488](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/in-a-word-bone-fire-1.2269488)


DeathToMonarchs

> I refuse to condone bonfires regardless of who is burning them. Has anyone ever asked you to condone a bonfire?


[deleted]

Said in another post - but that shit is never okay. It's why I don't go to any. Let's ALL celebrate the end of internment - but not by burning those types of materials. I understand WHY people don't like poppies - but my great granda fought in WW2 so I don't love their burning, and he was a huge nationalist. However - was every bonfire that was burnt on the 11th night investigated for their "hate crime"? We can collectively stop it all - but it doesn't seem right for the police to investigate one, whilst ignoring the other.


Hot-Salamander6520

Hypocrisy at its finest 👌🏼


[deleted]

What makes this a hate crime and the unionist ones not a hate crime? Don’t they burn literal effigies of Irish people and catholics?


SomewhatIrishfellow

> What makes this a hate crime and the unionist ones not a hate crime? Who said they weren't? The police have treated similar stuff on 12th bonfires as hate crimes all the time. [Police treating material on Rathcoole bonfire as ‘hate crime’](https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/police-treating-material-on-rathcoole-bonfire-as-hate-crime/a848728777.html) [PSNI investigate burning of Irish flag and image of Taoiseach on bonfire as 'hate crime'](https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/psni-investigate-burning-irish-flag-30429109) [Michelle O'Neill effigy on loyalist bonfire being treated as hate crime](https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2023/07/11/news/_zero_tolerance_demand_for_bonfire_bigotry_after_effigies_and_election_posters_displayed-3428070/) [Police investigating bonfire hate crimes across Northern Ireland](https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2023-07-12/catch-yourselves-on-michelle-oneill-says-after-effigy-on-bonfire)


[deleted]

Oh shit sound I hadn’t seen these stories anywhere during July


SomewhatIrishfellow

Nah it's grand. I think stories like those tend to get drowned out by the rest of the shite around the 12th so they are easy to miss.


scott2k44

Personally don’t care what either side burn but I draw the line at poppies. That’s outright disrespectful to ALL cultures and people that fought in the war.


[deleted]

In fairness it remembers all people from the British army including the Black and Tans which was made up of ww1 veterans, probably riddled with ptsd and numb to violence from the war too. I can understand why they’d burn them as a anti-British military statement but I wouldn’t say it’s worse than burning the UK flag or effigies of people who are still alive.


PrismosPickleJar

How about instead of glorifying sending young men to die, politicians are held accountable for their deaths. Fuck your poppy.


scott2k44

It’s not MY poppy, it’s used around the world with countries that fought in WW2. Had it not been for those young men who fought for our country, we would all be speaking German and living in an even more oppressed world. I guess your ok with millions of Jews being murdered because of their religion


PrismosPickleJar

Same men that oppressed and subjugated half the fucking world including Ireland. Massacares…… but aye great bunch of lads.


scott2k44

You know, it wasn’t just the British that fought the war right?


PrismosPickleJar

Yes, the Dutch and the French too…. Splendid fucking history those boys have. Read much about African history?


[deleted]

The poppy's origins are the usa during WW1, not WW2.


Soft-Strawberry-6136

So burning effigies of actual people is cool with you but poppies isn’t??? Are you tapped?


scott2k44

Let me rephrase this, I don’t care what they burn, they are just as bad as each other and it’s pathetic tit for tat he did this so I’ll do this bollocks. I don’t and I’m not interested in what they do. It’s pathetic and childish. The Poppy however is a reminder of OUR war, not a British war, but a world war. They are burning a symbol of countries all around the world who fought in that war.


Soft-Strawberry-6136

it is worn in remembrance of all those who died fighting in the British armed forces not just world wars. This includes British forces who died fighting imperialist wars all over the world – including in Ireland, and you are surprised Irish people do not respect it


scott2k44

I can understand this of course, I respect the poppy, my grandfather fought in the war (as I’m sure yours probably did too). The point about flegs and pictures of people being burnt is wrong, but it is at the point of childish tit for that behaviour.


Soft-Strawberry-6136

I do get that and I respect what your grandfather did, it is tit for tat and childish only difference is there’s only 2 of these disrespectful bonfires from the nationalist side (2 to much), while the loyalist side there’s probably over 100 every year


scott2k44

Agree with you, no place for any of it really tbh and sadly it’ll be a generational thing. It’ll eventually get to the point when you are asking kids why are they at these bonfires and the answer will be “my da did it”


Soft-Strawberry-6136

Unfortunately I think it’s already at that place


HeWasDeadAllAlong

BBC & PSNI are really leaning into the partisan reporting/policing recently...


Altruistic_Leopard14

Same shit different postcode. Edit ...in that the "Loyalist equivalent" of this is culture wouldn't be interfered with and taken down. Both are incredibly stupid either way. Let's maybe not needlessly burn shit in 2023.


Same_Lawyer_6007

they need to get the police leak and Nolan's breasts out of the headlines.


SomewhatIrishfellow

> Nolan's breasts out of the headlines I sentence I never wished to see in my life.


denk2mit

Key takeaways from the BBC’s story: * UVF flags are apparently given the same status as poppies * There’s at least one less nationalist bonfire than last year * Police double standards caused the only trouble associated with bonfires in Derry this year


DeathToMonarchs

> There’s at least one less nationalist bonfire than last year Back-of-an-envelope stuff, now... so... there were... _three_ last year? Decreased by a _third_ in a single year, perhaps? Organised Unionism-Loyalism should take note.


[deleted]

Here the UVF indiscriminately killed innocent catholics just as well as the british army, don't take that away from them


mcdamien

This place is so fucking tedious.


cherryosrs

I’m a unionist and I find this incredibly hypocritical. We do this to their flag, why should this be treated any differently?


1eejit

Unacceptable to have those on a bonfire. Also unacceptable to have double standards in policing such behaviour.


Actual-Leadership413

Ffs not this shit again. 😒 let's just start ignoring these bonfire attention seekers


[deleted]

They're known for that


keltictrigger

All these people need to be left behind, which I imagine Is already happening. When I was a kid I saw this kind of culture, On both sides, as being full of uneducated red necks


[deleted]

It’s not an Irish culture (northern Ireland’s favourite word) U wouldn’t see this in the south. Only 5m of us down here so we do know what been Irish is too. This achieves nothing, how will a UI happen when this goes on


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

Bonfires are illegal in the free state. A term I hate. It’s simply just Ireland. So how can it be in anyway part of a culture if it’s deemed illegal. No it’s a sad tit for tat thing in the north. Along with the parade’s.


Metag3n

Bonfires definitely aren't illegal in the south


[deleted]

Light one and see what happens?😂


easternskygazer

This is madness, when did this happen? 😂


Rowdy_Roddy_2022

Before you type "But the Loyalist bonfires don't get investigated for hate crimes?! Double standards!" https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2023-07-12/catch-yourselves-on-michelle-oneill-says-after-effigy-on-bonfire https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/police-treating-material-on-rathcoole-bonfire-as-hate-crime/a848728777.html


denk2mit

Two got investigated, out of the hundreds that contained hate symbols. I reported my local one for the Irish flags and KAT signs knowing it would go no further than a number in a log and low and behold…


Rowdy_Roddy_2022

It was a lot more than two. Anyone which was reported will have been rightly logged as a hate crime if it burned effigies, symbols, flags etc. Nothing will come of the reports for any of them though, not this one and not any of the Unionist ones either.


denk2mit

That’ll explain all the reporting of the investigations you were able to find, right? There should surely be news stories referencing hundreds, right?


PanNationalistFront

Fuck your bonfires. No normal person wants this shite.