Irish Invented Tradition

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.

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...