Perhaps it was the steady drizzling rain that made the main Orange parade through the streets of Belfast yesterday reminiscent of so many washed-out St Patrick's Day parades south of the Border.
It required the same grim determination to maintain the carnival atmosphere on the glorious 12th beneath dull grey clouds in rain-soaked clothes.
The three-deep crowd that lined the parade route did their best, bursting sporadically into the closing lines of The Sash when yet another sodden flute band trooped past playing the tune. The Sash along with My Old Man Said Follow That Van were the favourites for crowd participation.
More than 200 bands paraded by, each following the same format. A banner identifying the band, a Union Jack-draped car identifying the Orange Lodge, and then the smartly attired band, beginning with a few kids carrying batons or an older child performing cartwheels on the wet tarmac of the road, drummers, then flutes, and finally two single lines of Orange Order members in sober suits. Variety was provided by the band's uniforms: slick black with berets; red, blue and gold double-breasted and tasselled jackets; all-white suits.
From time to time someone would spot a familiar face in the parade and a cheer would go up. One kilt-wearing banner-carrier obligingly flashed his bare backside to the wild hoots of a group of women. Under large umbrellas mothers jigged in time to the music with their children. Toddlers were safely ensconced inside plastic-covered buggies. Men stood around drinking beer. The more adventurous donned plastic Union Jack bowler hats or fake cowboy hats.
Elaine (46) was wearing a Rangers hat. "I only bought it because of the rain," she explained. She brought her kids every year and later, when they got back to their estate on the edge of east Belfast, there would be a street party. "The kids love it," she said.
Behind the main spectators, a stream of teenagers trailed by, following their local bands on to "The Field", the end of the parade. The young girls defied the weather in skimpy mini-skirts, day-glo T-shirts and full metal make-up. The boys in their Rangers tracksuits fidgeted with their spiky gelled-up hair dos, flattened by the rain. Most of them were carrying beer or bottles of "alcopops".
Groups of mostly men clustered farther back, around the closed shutters of the shops lining the route, clutching beer bottles, further supplies in boxes and plastic arranged at their feet. Ralph (50) travels over every year from Aberdeen for the celebration. He was at the bonfires the night before and the beer in his hand was a "top-up", he explained.
It was a drinking day, admitted Roy (58), a member of the Orange Order who has marched in the parade every year since 1970. He was enjoying a quick snifter of whiskey and a cigarette during a brief break. "We've seen better days," he said, nodding at the ashen sky while drops of rain trickled down his forehead.
He laughed at the comparison with a St Patrick's Day parade. "We're not all bigots," he said.
The drinking culture concerned him. "It's not nice," he said. Committees had been formed to try to get the young people away from the culture of drink but it wasn't easy. Some of them would have been up till 4 in the morning drinking at the bonfires and they had started again before lunchtime.
Huddled under the eaves of a shop, Gregory Liu from Taiwan said he was interested in seeing the parade because the political situation in Northern Ireland was similar to that in his home country. He is in Belfast to study English.
"This parade is a little bit related to the political situation to Taiwan. We also have a parade and we have a national holiday too. It's interesting for me," he said.