Ireland invented tradition
What do you understand by the notion of an `Invented Tradition`? In what ways have Irish nationalists used `invented traditions` to shape a common understanding of the national past? Discuss with reference to no more than three examples.
The plan for my essay is to describe three different traditions and there history.
The first is political and is about the 1916 uprising and the future parades that have been held ever since, and it is laid out in five parts.
The second and third are social traditions.
The Easter uprising of 1916
Background
The act of union 1801 united the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland, abolishing the Irish parliament and giving Ireland representation in Westminster. From early on, many Irish nationalists opposed the union. Opposition took various forms, constitutional, social and revolutionary.
Constitutional nationalism enjoyed its greatest success in the 1880`s and 1890`s when Charles Stewart Parnell succeeded in having two home rule bills introduced by the liberal government of William Gladstone, though both failed.
In the early 20th century a provisional committee (Irish Republican Brotherhood) was formed that included people with a wide range of political views and was open to all Irish men without distinction of social or political group. They were formed to secure and maintain the rights and liberties to all people of Ireland.
The Essay on Harping Tradition In Ireland
The Irish harp has for many years been a great symbol for Ireland. Although now it is probably seen by most as just the image on the back of our coins, or on government letters, it has an extensive history rooted behind it. Here we will explore some of the historical background surrounding the harp; from its heyday until its unfortunate decline. For hundreds of years (11th Century onwards), the ...
Planning
The supreme council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood met on 5th September 1914, a month after the UK declared war on Germany.
At this meeting they decided to stage an uprising before the end of the war then accept whatever help Germany would offer. Responsibility for the planning of the uprising was given to two men, Tom Clarke and Sean Macdermott.
James Connolly was head of the Irish Citizen Army, who were a group of armed socialist trade union men and women.
The ICA was unaware of the plan and threatened to start a rebellion of their own. The IRB leaders met with James Connolly in January 1916 and convinced them to join forces with them. They agreed to act together the following Easter and made Connolly a member of the Military committee.
The Build Up
Three days of parades were organised for early April to cover their plans, and the British authorities at Dublin castle would be none the wiser about the plans.
The Republicans were expecting a shipment of arms from Germany to aid their uprising, but the ship which was disguised as a Norwegian fishing trawler had been scuttled after being intercepted by the Royal Navy.
British Intelligence had got wind of the uprising and the arms shipment and found out about the Easter date while intercepting radio messages between Germany and their embassy in the United States.
The British government had decided on wholesale arrests of the leaders, but the decision was delayed until after the Easter Monday, by which time it was too late the rising had begun.
The Uprising Itself
Early on Monday 24th April 1916 roughly about 1,200 volunteers and citizen army members took over strong points in Dublin city centre. A group of about 400 gathered at Liberty Hall under the command of James Connolly.
The rebel HQ was located at the general post office where Connolly and four other members of the military council were located. After occupying the post office the volunteers hoisted two republican flags and Patrick Pearse read a proclamation of the republic.
At various skirmishes around the city, police, soldiers, civilians and rebels were all injured and a few fatally.
On The Monday, the British were caught totally unprepared and were generally uncoordinated. A total of 425 people were arrested for the uprising and looting. From the Tuesday onwards British forces under the leadership of Brigadier general Lowe and after the rebels had failed to take either of the stations or ports, the British were able to bring in thousands of reinforcements from England and by the end of the week they had over 16,000 men.
The Essay on Close Relationships Between Men And Women part 1
Close Relationships between Men and Women Introduction The question, discussed in this research is, perhaps, one of the most widely discussed questions in today's society. Customary it is not discussed in an absolutely open way, but still it does not mean that the problem does not exist. Interpersonal relationships seems to be a great mystery of the mankind. People do not exist without ...
After being shot in the ankle and being incapacitated, Connolly handed command to Pearse, but on Saturday 29th April from his new headquarters after realising he could not break out his position without further loss of civilian life, Pearse issued an order for all his companies of men to surrender.
The Aftermath
After the surrender, General Maxwell signalled his intention to arrest all dangerous rebels. A total of 3,430 men and 79 women were arrested although most were released. In a series of court martial’s that begun on May 2nd 90 people were sentenced to death.
A meeting called on 19th April 1917 led to the formation of a political movement under the banner of Sinn Fein.
Military parades are now held every Easter and a committee has been formed to plan centenary celebrations in 2016.
Little Women’s Christmas
`Nollaig na mban` (little women’s Christmas) is a really old custom that is still celebrated by many women all over Ireland to this day. It goes back to the days of really large families with lots of children, were the norm.
Men never did anything in the house; they never lifted a finger to do anything and were never expected to either. If a man did anything, for example washing up or the laundry, he would have been made a laughing stock of the community and would have been open to ridicule with name calling like `Auld Woman` for example and no man was prepared to leave himself open to that.
But each year after the Christmas festivities had finished and the home was getting back to a sense of normality, the lady of the house would get a welcome break, well for one day anyway. January 6th is that day (the same day as epiphany.) On that day and that day alone, men would take over the housework allowing women to take it easy and see their friends and relax.
Halloween
The Celts celebrated Halloween as Samhain, the feast of the dead, that is when (the deceased revisited the mortal world. The oiche na Sprideanna (spirit night) marked the end of the summer.
The Essay on Women And Men Communicate Differently
Women and Men Communicate Differently The process of neo-Liberal dogmas, such as celebration of diversity and elimination of sexism, being showed up peoples throats, brought about a situation, when employment policies correspond less and less to the objective reality of interaction between genders at workplace. Men and women are expected to execute their professional duties with the same ...
During the 8th Century the Catholic Church designated the first day of November as `All saints day` (All hallows day), so the day prior to this was all hallows eve (Halloween).
It was an occasion of family reunion after Booleying, which was a system of moving cattle and sheep to summer pastures. All the local families would arrive back and organise games to identify future husbands etc. Also special food was served from ingredients supplied by all the families.
Halloween was the night when the women of the village would open up their cupboards and feast, even the poorest families prepared something special for the night. Jack o`Lantern was a blacksmith who was a lost soul and the devil gave him a hollowed out turnip in which he placed a burning ember. Today we have the tradition of the turnip lantern. In the United States where the tradition really caught on, turnips were not widely available so a pumpkin was used in its place.
Celtic druids dressed up to disguise themselves from ghosts and demons roaming the land on Halloween night so as to not be carried away, hence the tradition of dressing up on Halloween. Word count 1,123
Bibliography
A, Laurence (Ireland: The Invention of Tradition pp149-190)
Tradition and dissent DVD (The Open University, Milton Keynes)
