Holyland in Belfast

At one side of the Queen’s University Belfast towards Lagan river there is an area called Holyland. When last month I went to see Asian Super Market for the first time, I had to cross through this Holyland. When I walk on the bank of the river Lagan from Central Railway station, I usually take a turn near the Asian Super Market (about 1km from there or may be more) towards the Queen’s University and come to my residence. While coming to my residence at Fitz William Street I cross this Holyland.

The name appeared to me quite interesting. How the planners of the streets cared to choose such names such Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem and Palestine Street, I could not comprehend. Perhaps the builders were and the architects associated with them were impressed by the culture of Arab lands or they might have acquainted or studied about the stories about Arab like the Lawrence of Arabia, who played a great role in stirring Arab unity. As I probed further I came to know that the street network was built in the 1890s by the city’s oldest firm of property consultants, Brown McConnell Clark. Sir Robert McConnell, who was part of one of the founding families of the firm had travelled Palestine and Egypt and impressed by the Arab culture. Hence, the streets were named after famous Arab places with having religious significance. In fact Sir Robert was himself a devout Christian.

Perhaps this is the only city in the world, which has at a particular location of a small area all these streets names. And the interesting thing is that in this holyland in Belfast the streets of Jerusalem and Palestine are just adjacent! The image of violent Israel-Palestine conflict, and also their contested claims on Jerusalem itself, suddenly conjured up my mind when I saw these streets and their names at first instance. Equally interesting is that the Holyland is found in Belfast which too has witnessed violent turmoil in its recent history. The city in fact the larger Northern Ireland, witnessed some of the violent phases called Troubles in its recent times. It is very difficult to call it whether a paradox or an amazing site of harmony.

The media reports say that this holyland has become a violent zone in recent years and the Queen’s University and Ulster University in 2005 initiated programmes called Students Awareness Programme to bring civility to this region. This area has recently witnessed change in its demographic composition as it has become host to outsiders particularly students from outside, also youth looking for jobs, etc. And these youth sometimes create disturbances causing trouble to other residents. The holyland has in fact recently earned an unholy name due to reports of burglary, car crime and violent assaults despite awareness campaigns and police patrols. While walking in the evening I too occasionally come across loud noise, broken bottles, etc.

The holyland is really an interesting phenomenon. When someone says ‘land’ it simply invokes in imagination a piece of territory, but when one adds prefix ‘holy’ it creates a lot of meaning, and which on occasions becomes a matter of contest, competition, and in many cases becomes a zone of conflict as in the case of Palestine and Israel. In fact the idea of holy in its seed contains the notion of unholy. And there is the eternal human tendency to show one’s own as holy, while by doing this it marks the other category as unholy. The issue of Jerusalem always figures prominently within the contesting claims of both Arab Muslims and the Jews. Hence, the name holyland, at occasions evokes the spirit of reverence and at times contestation.

In India I have not come across such holylands. But nowadays there are lots of debates going on in India, particularly in Indian media, about the so called holymen and their unholy acts. Some of the fake Sadhus by donning garb of holymen indulge in all kinds of activities which their ‘holiness’ otherwise debar. In another context, one can find contrasts in some of the religious sites in India. In New Delhi’s Qutab Minar area one can find Islamic sites with Hindu deities or symbols carved in their walls or pillars.