Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh… March 17, 2010
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Or somesuch given the day that is in it… Celebrate. Or something. It’s a bit problematic, given that it is on a Wednesday, so I wouldn’t be insanely keen to say, have a drink today. That was last night. And there’s work tomorrow. And Friday. So perhaps I won’t really celebrate. Not that I need alcohol to celebrate. Let’s get that straight. I’ll raise a Sprite in toast. Although that seems somehow – inappropriate.
Nor would I be hugely interested in going into the parade. Somehow that’s never reached the heights I remember from the late 70s when Abel Alarms (I think) had floats decked out as the Enterprise from Star Trek. Macnas was never quite the same. But oddly I always enjoy watching the parades from around the country. In part that’s because there’s the underlying question how do you sustain the interest if a parade is x floats long – x being a small number. How does that work? Throw every group one can think of into the mix? Scouts, bands, Fine Gael cumainn, the Rosicrucians?
Actually that’s interesting and sometime it might make a trip to some smaller town worth while.
But there’s also the point that parades are – for me – fundamentally uninteresting unless I have an emotional stake in them. And what’s the hook to hang that on here? Bring back the Enterprise. Military parades are a slightly different thing. I’m just old enough to remember the Easter Parade before it was retired – perhaps due to the Troubles. There the massed finery of the Defence Forces was on show and it was pretty good. Of course there you could get fly pasts of the Aer Corps. Small. Very small, but impressive in the context.
Yeah, there’s a good reason to call for a revival of the Easter Parade. And that’s only two weeks away.
….
Addendum:
Reading the Irish Times letter page today, what does one see but:
Madam, – Is there not something ironic that the national day of this Republic is a commemoration of a Catholic saint and not a celebration of the foundation of the Republic? South Africa has Freedom Day, India, its Republic Day and France, Bastille Day
A ‘Catholic saint’? Now that didn’t sound right, or rather, it sounded far from the whole story (the larger pont about a Republic Day is an interesting one, not sure I’d go with it just yet…). Truth is St. Patrick is venerated by not only the Catholic Church, but also the Orthodox ones and… yes.. Anglicanism… amongst others. Indeed on wiki one can read that:
Note that the Anglican Communion have only ever canonised one saint—King Charles I of England (see Society of King Charles the Martyr). However, it recognises pre-Reformation saints, as does the United Methodist Church.
You’d think someone at the Irish Times might know this small fact. Or maybe not.
I was jarred into a different connection with the day that is in it when waiting for BBC Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour to start. I was using the wireless thingy in the corner of the kitchen and was tuned to long wave, where you get the 15-minute Daily Service before it. The reverend wished us a happy St Patrick’s day and explained that the saint was the first occupant of the see of Armagh (or similar wording — I was busy making tea). I shifted attention to the “more” mark at that point in case he was going to opine about the responsibility holding that particular post has. But no, Seán Cardinal Brady, prelate of the Roman Catholic and most holy apostolic church (doesn’t that institution consider them equivalent to princes?), and heir to the seat of St Patrick was not going to be criticised for his standards.
That’s a curious one isn’t it?
Was he talking specifically about the RCC or the CoI?
My interpretation from a “Catholic saint” is the former, but I guess that might just be me.
The Beeb’s reverend wasn’t making a point about contemporary controversies. He was simply noting that today is St Patrick’s day and winding in a ‘thought’ on that fact into his service, along with a sung performance of St Patrick’s Breastplate. (You might disagree, though, ‘cos he did say that St Patrick was the most important gift of Britain to Ireland. But I think he was being clumsy rather than pointed.)
I presume the reverend was Anglican, but again I doubt he was making a Co[I|E] v RC point, but a fluffier, cuddlier “Christian” one. Sometimes that programme can come across as a bad Fr Trendy trying to straddle the profound and the ordinary.
You don’t get many tubthumping preachers on Radio 4. Which is kind of a pity, as they might wake the punters up.
You don’t get many tubthumping preachers on Radio 4. Which is kind of a pity, as they might wake the punters up.
“You know, it often seems to me that, in this modern world, we’re all rather prone to forget about the Whore of Babylon working her evil from the gilded palaces of Rome…”
There’s got to be a gap in the market.
Sorry – I meant the BBC 4 guy. i’m just thinking of the whole “Irish Church” thing, which dis-Establishment hadn’t knocked on the head even by the Twentieth Century.
The date of the foundation of the republic? Wouldn’t that be Easter? Anyway, the Scots and Welsh get their saints’ days as national days.
From Brady’s homily he at least seems to be gradually realising the gravity of the situation, although I couldn’t help thinking Martin is much better at doing public penitence. We’ve the Pastoral Letter coming up at the weekend, so we’ll see what comes out of that. If the Irish bishops get cut off at the knees, they’ve only themselves to blame.
Up here though, it’ll be the usual celebration of alcoholism. Doubtless the Tyrone farmboys will be tearing up south Belfast tonight.
Archbishop Martin is in a stronger position to do public penitence since his personal behaviour in any incident is not in doubt — he was on diplomatic duty elsewhere.
True. Which is why he got parachuted into Dublin in the first place.
He’s certainly a tad more astute than many in the hierarchy, one hopes it wasn’t quite that cynical a ploy, but truth is that probably there are few enough at the middle and highest reaches who wouldn’t have some problematic aspects to come to terms with from their pasts… I surely don’t buy the ‘different era’ line, but there’s a part of me that finds the notion that this institution – perhaps above all others – was spectacularly ill suited to understanding or dealing with the issue, and often, or mostly, due to its own fault in terms of organisational structure, ethos, etc, etc.
The oppression of the Holyland’s needs to be ended Splintered….
Too right. The culchies should all be sent back to Tyrone for the week.
Wouldn’t be keen on the military parades myself. I remember seeing some footage around the time this debate came up in 2006 (ahead of the controversial and militaristic 2006 parade) of the 50th rising anniversary commemoration in 1966, at which a few dozen defence force silhouettes atop the GPO discharged automatic rifles into the sky for about half a minute. It was one of the more chilling images of Dublin I’ve seen, and it looked a hell of a lot more sinister than any tinpot republican graveside volley.
They certainly pushed the boat out in 1966, but to be honest they were a bit more sedate than that usually. I don’t have a problem with the Defence Forces having a prominence in the society. I’ve also quite liked the concept ‘Defence’ forces…
Don’t get me started on this topic, WbS. Others will no doubt call to mind the Israeli Defence Forces – and also re-naming of the British War Ministry to the ‘Ministry of Defence’.
Speaking of the (Irish) Defence Forces and St. Patrick’s Day, I imagine that there’s much less visbility of such at parades the length of the country since the accountants and economists of PwC got at the DF (and eviscerated the FCÁ in particular).
‘Truth is St. Patrick is venerated by not only the Catholic Church, but also the Orthodox ones and… yes.. Anglicanism… amongst others.’
Absolutely. The 17th of March was made the national holiday in the late 18th century for precisely that reason, that it was cross-denominational. Up to then the official dates were 23 October (massacre of Protestant settlers by Catholics in 1641) and 5th November (birthday of William of Orange). Very inclusive.
(Very tangentially, I was struck at the time by the fact that the Coolacrease TV programme was originally broadcast on 23 October. I don’t suppose that was deliberate, but who knows how the Senator’s mind works?)
Well, now you mention it… 23rd of October/massacre… could very well be deliberate.
Somebody should post that on Nelson McCausland’s blog. Because what we really need is more loyalist-friendly bank holidays.
I’d like more bank holidays… I propose we merge the ones in the North and South, and retain those that aren’t shared… y’know, as a gesture of cross border cultural and political amity…
Living as I do little more than a stone’s throw from Glasnevin Cemetery, I can tell you that we did indeed have a military parade today. The RSF/CIRA march to Glasnevin every Paddy’s Day. It’s not much of a parade. CIRA marching to Glasnevin kinda brings me back to that zombie thread we had going some time back.
An odd day, in a way, for them to hold it. Is there a large attendance, and what were the militaristic elements?
I don’t know about RSF/CIRA but Dublin Sinn Féin have a commemoration every St Patrick’s Day, involving a march to Glasnevin, to mark the death of Vol Tom Smith on the same day in 1975. That’s probably what Joe saw.
Hmmm. I’ve seen a parade heading for Glasnevin on Paddy’s Day for a long number of years now. I identified it one time as an RSF parade and always assumed since that it was RSF. But for sure it could have been SF. This year I happened to be driving by in the opposite direction as they neared the cemetery. I gave them my evilest of evil eye as best I could and saw a banner of some sort for Volunteer Tom? McGlade. Don’t know if that might narrow it down?
Militaristic elements? Well, they were Shinners of one sort or another. There was a party of youngish men, boys and at least one girl (I think) in black pants, white shirts and black berets. And plenty of beer bellies.
What else can I say? Down with this sort of thing.
I wonder if this is how it’ll end: small, isolated groups of elderly Republicans shuffling along the roadsides, commemorating various long-dead volunteers on appointed days at obscure (and not so obscure) graveyards and grey concrete monuments around the country.
Of course younger, appropriately camouflaged, political anoraks will venture forth with binoculars and notebooks, recording the events for historical posterity (not unlike the type of fieldwork the Branch got up to in the past). They’ll publish spotters’ magazines, where you can tick off a Starry Plough here or an old H Blocks poster there, along with other remnants of a by now obsolete material culture.
The commemorations will of course have ceased by the time they’ve been appropriated by the heritage industry and places like Bodenstown, Loughgall or even Liam Lynch’s memorial in the Knockmealdowns will be remembered as ‘commemorative locations’ rather than as places where things actually happened…
I hope you’re wrong… but it’s a situation that could come around all too easily I fear.
Charlie McGlade, Joe. That’s one of the SF cumainn in Dublin South Central. And the colour party was led by a woman.
Archaeologist, the marchers were far from “elderly”! Most of us anyway.
Thanks Wednesday. It was regular SF so. Apologies for the mistake. But RSF do march to Glasnevin on some peculiar day each year – maybe it’s 1st Jan? I’ll keep an eye out!
Anarchaelogist’s picture of how it might all end appeals to me, I have to say. In my view, it will be progress if it becomes mainly elderly people attending these commemorations which are then finally appropriated by the heritage industry. And let young people get on with the task of making this world a better place for the living.
1st of January would be the RSF Daithi O Conaill commemoration Joe.
Thanks Captain. Duly noted.