Journal of History and Culture Journal of History and Culture

j o u r n a l o f h i s t o r y a n d c u l t u r e
their threshold and viewing them for 3 seconds to 10 seconds, from the inner walkway on the inside of Spirit Ring.
On a few occasions, people acknowledged the Portals by merely turning their heads (slowing pace slightly) in the
direction of the portals, while walking along the inner walkway on the inside of Spirit Ring.
Most people stood upright within the Portals, with their legs unbent, and their arms to their sides. Of all
the people observed, only one person was seen touching the granite Gateway and the bronze Portal. These actions
lasted only 1 second. Once inside Spirit Ring, people used the inner circular path, next to the curved granite stones
to walk to the next Gateway. Most people walked in the clockwise direction (inside Spirit Ring) maintaining a steady
distance of about 2 feet from the curved granite stones at the periphery of Spirit Ring.
It was observed that people approached the black granite stone at the center of Spirit Ring, only after
walking in and out of a few Portals. At the center of Spirit Ring, people either stood upright (looking down), or
half bent over, supporting their body weight with their palms on their thighs (looking down), or knelt down on one
knee (looking down) to view the markings on the black granite stone. The time spent at the center of Spirit Ring
next to the black granite stone varied from 20 seconds to 1 minute. People used the black center stone to orient
themselves with the direction (framed view created by the Portals) of the hometowns of the deceased. At the center
of Spirit Ring, people either pointed to the Portals at the periphery (in the presence of other people), or physically
looked in the direction of the Portals. People were also seen rotating themselves (very gradually) at the center and
looking physically in the direction of the Portals.
People were also observed leaving coins on the black granite stone at the center of Spirit Ring. When visiting
the Memorial as a group, people were observed assuming a semicircular formation around the black granite stone
at the center of Spirit Ring, except on the night of the anniversary of the Bonfire tragedy, when people assumed a
complete circular formation in the form of concentric rings.
Most people used either Gateway One (closest to the end of History Walk along the gentle curve), or
Gateway Twelve (on the other side at the end of History Walk) to exit Spirit Ring. Most people spent an average of
15 minutes inside Spirit Ring.
Peoples’ Experiences of Spirit Ring:
Structured interviews showed that most people appreciated Spirit Ring and thought of it and the Portals
as being ‘powerful’ and ‘monumental’ (compared with the anthropomorphic scale). The Portals were associated
with feelings of ‘sadness’, ‘solemnity’, ‘remembrance’, ‘tradition’, and ‘heroism’ (memory of the deceased). The
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