10,000 Catholics Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Belfast

BELFAST, Northern Ireland —  Defying convention in this traditionally pro-British Protestant city, more than 10,000 Catholics marched into the center of Belfast on Tuesday in the city’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade.

“We’re putting St. Patrick’s Day on the map in Belfast,” said the parade’s organizer, Catriona Ruane, who in hopes of achieving Protestant involvement had required marchers to avoid political-party banners and told fife-and-drum bands to skip overtly anti-British tunes.

Despite written invitations, there was little participation from Protestants.

The parade featured children with painted faces and shamrocks on their heads, Viking-costumed warriors, and a 30-foot-long fake snake. But the Irish-language banners and green-white-and orange Irish flags would have been enough to dissuade many Protestants.

Though St. Patrick’s remains are reputedly buried in Downpatrick, 20 miles south of Belfast, St. Patrick’s Day here has long been a muted affair--and celebrated exclusively on Catholic turf.

Until this decade, even flying an Irish flag or hanging street signs in Gaelic was illegal. In Belfast, previous marches by Catholics were blocked before they reached City Hall.

But the peace process has swelled Catholic confidence, even in this capital.

“Traditionally, the city center has been reserved for one section of the population,” Ruane said in reference to Belfast’s declining Protestant majority. “But we’re showing it’s our city too.”