"Dublin 1916 Commemoration?" Topic

Can anyone explain to me why the Irish government is commemorating the Dublin Easter Rising this weekend when the actual date of the Centenary is not until April?

Because it is Easter…. And the Rising was 100 Easters ago… And there might not be a convenient bank holiday weekend in April…

+1 John, not bad for a secular republic.

MajorB,

I must admit to asking myself the same question … but when did historical accuracy ever stand in the way of a celebration?

What's to explain – Easter's a 'movable feast'.

Probably the most famous movable feast on the calendar.

So the centenary of an Easter event is going to be… what's the word I'm looking for….?

And there might not be a convenient bank holiday weekend in April…

Why should a bank holiday weekend be important?

What's to explain – Easter's a 'movable feast'.

Yes of course, but it also means that it is very nearly not quite the Centenary.

I couldn't understand this either other than it is Easter and the uprising is know as the "Easter Uprising".

But it didn't happen til April 24th.

Proud of my Irish heritage, but I always remember events on the day that they happened.

The events this weekend are part of the many commemorations occurring throughout 2016, the centenary year.

These started with the "Peace Proms" on New Years day, and I believe on the 24th April there will be a commemoration at the Arbour Hill military cemetery.

So not unlike how during 2014 events were held regarding WW1, even before July/August the year is being commemorated.

As Easter is such a symbolic part of the founding story of Eire, I am not surprised that Easter Sunday should see such large parades.

Of course some may also say the fact that 2016 was a general election year may have also complicated the matter.

The Easter Rising has always been commemorated at Easter in the Republic of Ireland regardless of the date

Easter 1916 was such a tragedy. I'm not inclined to war game it. Fellow countrymen killing each other over very little was/is disturbing.

The British Army versus Irish republicans fighting for the independence of their nation hardly rates as fellow countrymen. Perhaps you're conflating it with the civil war of 1922, Ostrowski, in which case I'd sympathise with your sentiments.

Or perhaps he just has a better knowledge of Ireland and its history than you do. Are you aware that British troops had to fix bayonets to stop the captured rebels being attacked by mobs of "fellow" Irishmen (and women)?

I guess you're one of those people who thinks "Americans" also weren't "British" in 1775, right?

I think that Mr.Martini will find that the Irish rebels killed more Irish people than they killed Brits in their struggle for, what was it again? The freedom to make their own laws? (Which they already had) The freedom to represent themselves in government? (Which they already had). Or was it a movement initiated by some the wealthy middle class elite to become the ruling class of a new country, by cynically manipulating the lower orders by inventing a form of nationalism? The unpopularity of the rebels at the time, and the massive amount of nation building, or nation inventing, carried out by these elites through organisations such as the Gaelic League suggests that they had something of an uphill struggle.
In any case, what was this freedom that they achieved through such a bloody struggle? A government that for the next 50 years kept the Irish people in poverty and economic depression in order to further their romantic image of a nation of self-sufficient peasants, content to be led by their natural leaders, the likes of Devalera, under the control of the church. What an achievement to commemorate.

Wrong.

Well, that brilliantly argued response certainly makes me question everything I thought I knew. How about you, Chouan?

Now keep a stiff upper lip, you chaps.

Sorry boys, the evil Brit vs plucky Oirishman stereotype is deeply ingrained in many people, especially those not actually from Ireland.

Irish independence was inevitable, the process was in stalemate in 1916, mainly due to opposition from unionists within Ireland.

I do know the culture somewhat, being half Northern Irish and having lived there for three years as a child.

Indeed? So what is wrong about my post? Actually, could you previous remark be revealing of some assumptions on your part?

Chouan –
But he said wrong ,so you are wrong . Isn't that the way it works ??

No need for supporting evidence -or anything like that -The moment someone says wrong ,all other facts are irrelevant .

My timing was a little off: that response was to Senator Maximus' post.

Both your timing and your grasp of the data!

I wonder how the Easter Rising was received by the tens of thousands of Irishmen (both RC and Protestant) who volunteered to enlist in the British Army after the outbreak of war, such as those of 10th and 16th (Irish) Divisions, and 36th (Ulster) Division, not to meant the surviving regular volunteers of those Irish regiments that had deployed to France in 1914, e.g. 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards, 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, 8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars, 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers, Irish Guards, Royal Irish Regiment, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Royal Irish Rifles, Royal Irish Fusiliers, Connaught Rangers, Royal Munster Fusiliers, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, Leinster Regiment, the volunteer reservists of the North and South Irish Horse and, of course, members of the support arms…

Still, I'm delighted that there have been moves to finally recognise Irish participation in the Great War in certain quarters