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.

St. Patrick's Day at Belfast

This morning I went to the City Hall at the centre of the Belfast city to watch the march of processions to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. This day is celebrated on 17 March of every year. St. Patrick is revered by Christians throughout the world as a great Saint who could uphold the values of Christianity. As reflected through his Confession and the Letter to Coroticus he preached the principles of Christianity. St Patrick also baptized many converts into Christianity. What most attracted to me among the preaching of the Saint was that one could not be born a Christian but had to be a Christian by following the principles. I would prefer to extend this principle to other religions as well, particularly to my religion that is Hinduism. Here, Mahatma Gandhi comes to my mind. He preached peace and nonviolence and believed all religions are great and represent different paths to God realization.

St. Patrick was born in the north of the Britain, now called Wales, at around 390AD in the name of Patricius. At the age of 16 he was captured by raiders and made a slave in Ireland. While keeping sheep in Ireland, as the story goes, the boy had developed deep religious convictions and had rich experiences in Christianity. In Ireland he developed deep devotion and conviction in the principles of Christianity, and the preacher developed in him from there. Though he escaped from the captivity and returned back to Britain, he came back again to Ireland to preach the gospel of Christianity, and later became the patron Saint of Ireland. St Patrick implored people to return to God through Jesus Christ. In his Confession St Patrick says ‘I am Patrick the sinner’ and expressed the belief that ‘For all have sinned and come short of the glory of the God.’ But his dictum that a person had to become Christian not be born a Christian is firmly based on the belief, to quote Bible, ‘Expect a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ As I understand, it means that though man sins, but by virtue of faith and sincere following of principles of Christianity and dedication to God, one can leave the path of sin and move towards God realization.

I confess I do not have deep knowledge about St Patrick. Though I have a deep sense of conviction that all regions are great life systems which need to be studied, I have not studied them yet thoroughly. Once, about two decades ago, I read the New Testament as a boy but I could understand little then. But my understanding of Christianity says it is one of the great religions of the world. Its philosophy ‘love thy neighbour’ is something that goes deep into me. Watching some of the movies like The Passion of Christ impacted me too. Here is the Saviour who went through all pain of life to save the disgruntled civilization. I was deeply influenced by the Christ’s saying that ‘Father Forgive them, for they do know not what they do.’ Hence, this forgiveness which is a crucial principle of Christianity needs to be cultivated by the human beings of our society. Perhaps, extending the argument further, this Northern Ireland, which has passed through so many violent tumults, could have been an ideal place if all the conflicting parties could have followed the Christian principles of forgiveness and love in its true spirit.

My interests in the religion attracted me towards the celebrations marking St. Patrick’s Day. In fact I have never earlier witnessed such a colourful celebration among the followers of Christianity. Though in India I observed people of Christian religion observing various festivals like Ester, Christmas, etc., here it was a golden opportunity to see the processions at the City Hall. I observed people from different places crowding the City Hall entrance to witness the processions from a close. So much enthusiasm in the celebrations, so much cheerfulness! I could see parents carrying their children on shoulders so that they can have a view of the processions. The jamboree, the colour, and the enthusiasm in the place made me think: how can the human beings who are so good and happy social animals can be involved in ghastly acts of sin. I took some of the photographs for my satisfaction. I could see children playing around, with artificial moustache and beard, perhaps to look like the Saint. The colourful dresses, mostly in green and colourful attires like beautiful headgears and bands and also sound making instruments instantly captivated my mind.

I enjoyed the processions. I liked the one in which there were three or four women playing butterflies, with big wings. They were fluttering their wings, while cheering the crowd with serene smiles. It captivated my mind. On the top of this group of butterflies there was a lady with two artificial horns, with colours on face. She was jeering at the crowd, perhaps she was depicting the evil. To decipher the inner meanings of the processions was no doubt a difficult task. The processions were in another sense full of fun and joy. The scene of the people, jostling each other, for a favourable location to have a glimpse of the processions is something that can be seen and measured from a point of view of enthusiasm they display on these celebrations. Putting in another way the celebrations were not mere celebrations and marches on the streets of Belfast, rather these were marches of life on the road of humanity, with an aim to impart a greater lesson to mankind that in love and togetherness the human society can conquer all difficulties both inner and outer. Perhaps that was the lesson I could draw from the celebrations on St. Patrick’s Day at the heart of Belfast on 17 March 2010.