The Orange Institution (more commonly known as the Orange Order, the Orange Lodge or the Orangemen) is a Protestant fraternal organisation based in Northern Ireland. Founded in 1796 near the village of Loughgall in County Armagh, its name is a tribute to the Dutch-born Protestant King of England, Ireland and Scotland William of Orange, who defeated the army of Catholic James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Although based in Northern Ireland, the Institution also has a significant presence in lowland Scotland and lodges throughout the Commonwealth and United States.
Politically, the Orange Order is strongly linked to unionism. Critics have accused the Order of being sectarian, triumphalist and supremacist. As a Protestant society, non-Protestants cannot become members. Catholics, and those whose close relatives are Catholic, are banned from becoming members.
Read more about Orange Order: History, Requirements For Entry, Structure, Throughout The World, 'Diamond Dan'
Famous quotes containing the words orange and/or order:
“A hook shot kisses the rim and
hangs there, helplessly, but doesn’t drop
and for once our gangly starting center
boxes out his man and times his jump
perfectly, gathering the orange leather
from the air like a cherished possession”
—Edward Hirsch (b. 1950)
“From cradle to grave this problem of running order through chaos, direction through space, discipline through freedom, unity through multiplicity, has always been, and must always be, the task of education, as it is the moral of religion, philosophy, science, art, politics and economy; but a boy’s will is his life, and he dies when it is broken, as the colt dies in harness, taking a new nature in becoming tame.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)