Are bonfires part of Protestant culture anywhere other than the north of Ireland? Do Swedes burn bonfires with tricolours in them? Did Luther specify bonfires in his 95 conditions?
Maybe bonfires are a replacement for a shared protestant history in NI. Were there bonfires in july in the 1500s?
Joyce Carol Oates said that humans are the species that invents symbols in which to represent power and authority and then forgets that they are symbols.