‘Stuck’ US tourist speaks out after being caught in Orange Order parade

An American tourist has become an internet sensation after posting a video of herself being “stuck” in an Orange Order parade during her road trip through Ireland.

TikTok user LizWizdom, who is enjoying her Irish holiday, uploaded a clip showing herself in a vehicle wearing an Irish flag bracelet and dancing to the parade music.

She captioned it: “When you’re just trying to take a shortcut on your road trip in Ireland but end up in the middle of an Irish parade.”

The video quickly went viral, with many viewers rushing to the comments to clarify that the Orange Order could not call their procession an “Irish parade”, although many found humour in their gaffe.

One commenter remarked: “Oh girl, they’re going to LOVE that you called it an Irish parade,” while another wrote: “That’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Between the head bobbing and the tricolour wristband.”

LizWizdom then posted a follow-up video detailing how she inadvertently joined the parade, believing it to be just an Irish celebration.

She says: “This is how I found myself in the middle of an Orange Order parade that I wrongly thought was just an Irish celebration.”

“My day started outside Sligo in the beautiful Gleniff Horseshoe. Honestly, the mountains of Ireland are just something else.”

Watch the video below – if you can’t see it, just click here

“But they are also on another level with their narrow roads. So our GPS took us down one of them and straight onto a parade route. There were hundreds of coaches and buses and absolutely nowhere to go. My dad was not happy that we were parked in the middle of the road for 40 minutes.”

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“I thought it was better to make the most of it and enjoy the parade from the car, without knowing what the context was.”

“I saw a lot of orange and I thought, ‘Well, America has red, white and blue, Ireland has green, white and orange.’ Actually, there’s a lot more than that.

“When the traffic started moving we asked a policeman how to get out of there and he started laughing at us and now I understand why, but we arrived at our destination, Slieve League.”

Liz has a number of other videos on her TikTok account documenting her trip to Ireland, including watching Derry Girls in Derry to “educate” herself and encountering large groups of sheep in the Rings of Kerry.

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