Ritualized displays of ethnic solidarity were a feature of Maritime life. In rural areas where there was greater ethnic homogeneity, religion and national origin figured prominently in people's everyday lives. In urban areas, group differences were softened somewhat by proximity and work practices. Various organizations were formed by British immigrants, but the Irish were the most active, with both Roman Catholic and Protestant associations. Parades or banquets on saints' days or special commemorations expressed communal spirit. Sometimes such displays inflamed communities, though the sectarian violence experienced in other parts of British North America was less common in the Maritimes. The parade pictured here was part of the annual celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne on 12 July in which the English Protestants overcame the Catholic Irish.
It is difficult to tell if religious or ethnic societies were an impediment or advantage to development of worker solidarity. Some argue that experience gained in organizing fraternal societies helped develop working-class consciousness; but it is also thought that such fraternization across class lines undercut potential worker solidarity. Be that as it may, unions adapted many of the structural norms of ethnic associations and took on many of their self-help and beneficial functions.
