We witnessed in 2016 a commemoration of the Easter Rising and the Proclamation of the Republic; other terms were used, certain old wars being continued into the Present with words in place of arms. An extraordinary poster in a prominent site in Dublin commemorated four people for the occasion, Henry Grattan, Daniel O’Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell and John Redmond, with their images alongside the logo and slogan of the 1916/2016 Centenary Programme. The interested reader may find out more about any of these men if so inclined. For now, let us note that the Irish Times itself was compelled to admit that “Grattan, O’Connell and Parnell died respectively in 1820, 1847 and 1891, while Redmond described the Rising as a ‘wicked and insane’ event”, adding in the following sentence that a man whom we can provisionally describe as a hapless functionary explained that the idea for the banner had come from the Taoiseach’s office, which is to say it came from a man who occupies a position that only exists because of those who fought in 1916 and after. And for that matter, those who fought beforehand as well. The same hapless functionary whines that the majority of Irish people supported parliamentarism prior to 1916 and it would be “unhistorical” to leave out such collaborationists (here Macdara paraphrases). 

One hesitates to make a comparison to another polity to communicate the strangeness of all this; it would be hard to get the nuance right. So: think of a set of people associated with a particular phenomenon, then think of people from outside that set, and imagine that you made posters of them to recognise the phenomenon that they were not part of, being long dead, or vehemently opposed. Macdara hopes that the point is clear.

Looking at that poster again, one is reminded that the Centenary Programme for the Rising is described a little differently in Irish above the English name: Clár Comórtha Céad Bliain, the addition being the word comórtha, which can be defined quite neutrally as gathering, assembly, but also as celebration. Irish people will be accustomed to the weight that attaches itself to detail in matters like these. So, following the Split, could the Official Republican Movement discern itself by adhesive Easter Lily badges, as the Provisional Republican Movement used a badge with a pin, a sufficient marker for the Officials to become known as Stickies. It is therefore a source of frustration to Macdara that the State celebrated the Rising during the Christian festival of Easter, this being something a little more than mere detail, as Easter 2016 fell earlier in the year than Easter 1916. The State in fact celebrated the centenary of the Rising almost a full month earlier than the actual anniversary, making a mockery of the timeline, as events leading up to the Rising were commemorated after it. 

The willingness of the government, and all parties within the State, to commit themselves to such an evidently senseless practice must relate to a residual commitment to the Christian Festival of Easter. But a Republican Festival cannot be pulled around according to the whims of the Vatican, based, this writer understands, on the motions of the Moon. The activities of the steadfast Republic cannot follow those of the Moon, save for matters Tidal. As fond as this writer is known to be of the Earth’s nighttime accomplice, he nevertheless calls on the public to celebrate the Rising on the appropriate day of the calendar year, and not to follow the precepts of the princes of the church, nor their Lunatick timekeeping, in this most secular matter.