In Contentious Rituals, Jonathan S. Blake focuses on Protestant parades in the streets of Northern Ireland and why people choose to participate in them. Drawing on rich interviews, survey data, and ethnographic observations, Blake presents a new look at the conflict in Northern Ireland and offers findings that illuminate contested symbols everywhere. Jonathan Blake has produced a superb analysis of why the Protestant parading tradition continues to fascinate, excite, attract and repel in Northern Ireland. Drawing upon wide-ranging interviews with participants and observers and extensively researched throughout, Contentious Rituals offers a clear account of the importance of collective identity which underpins parades. The book is essential reading for scholarly understanding of the persistence of ritualistic divisions.