90th Anniversary of 1916 Rising
Speaking of Irish anniversaries, 2006 marks the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
The reason Mexican flags on the streets of the United States are understood by many Irish people, is because we have been eating and drinking flags and especially symbols, since the foundation of the Irish state.
In Ireland, not only are events and their anniversaries symbolic, but anniversaries of anniversaries themselves are symbols. Would you expect less from a nation which has specialized in talking about talks for one hundred years now?
In Irish history there is no symbol more powerful than the 1916 Easter Rising and its Blood Sacrifice / Terrorism / Treachery / Foundation of Democracy / Unselfish Idealism / Rebellion against Empire / Undemocratic Mandate for Violence / Fight for Independence / Criminal Folly etc.
A magnificent resource to read all that one might want to understand about the Rebellion of 1916 is currently available on The Irish Times website to mark the Rising’s 90th anniversary. It has been produced in association with Ireland’s Department of Education & Science, and the main pieces were written by Fintan O’Toole and Shane Hegarty.
Rather than get caught up in what the Rising of 1916 means to so many Irish people now or over the last ninety years, the supplement tries to look just at the reality of the event that actually took place for real people. It doesn’t attempt to argue for or against, nor to adjudicate ownership of its many legacies. Told largely in a day-by-day narrative it uses national and military archives, along with contemporary letters and diaries:
It is also closer to the way in which people actually experienced the Rising, getting from one chaotic day to another, not knowing what would happen next or even what was happening now in any part of the city or the country beyond their own immediate location.
I really can’t recommend this highly enough. It’s huge, but often the truth needs a lot of words. As well as linking to it from this post, I have placed an image and link in the sidebar which I’ll leave up for some time. Do visit frequently and read of the real lives of real people who Fintan O’Toole states participated in the most astonishing and dramatic single event in Ireland in the last 200 years
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
Eolai–Thanks for directing your readers to this terrific resource. I am off to check it out! Katy http://www.fallible.com