WORTHY TESTIMONY TO THE RISEN PEOPLE
Putting people centre stage, this glorious memento of 1916 keeps the flame alive
Reflecting on two connected events at either end of a 100-year stretch of history marked by countless revolutionary changes is difficult. The best way to do this is by focusing on people, what they remember, how they remember and how they link stories told a century apart.
Capturing the energy of the celebration is no easy task but Centenary does it beautifully with page after page of stunning highresolution photographs bringing moments to life.
With a luxurious fabric cover and quality feel, the book makes for a lovely memento of the anniversary of the Rising. It is something to treasure for years to come and will be perfect to show the next generation a glimpse of the past.
Events centre around people and, in putting together the story of the commemorations, the editor has used images and accounts that get to the heart of what it was all about, bringing people together to celebrate and reflect.
Few things bring the country together like Gaelic football and last year the National Football League final was played exactly 100 years on from the start of the Easter Rising. The GAA is central to a modern Irish identity and this reach into the heart of communities up and down the country helped the association draw on the culture of all of Ireland to mark the occasion with perhaps the most impressive spectacle of 2016 – one to tell the grandchildren about.
After all, ‘the Gaelic League was founded not upon hate of England, but upon love of Ireland’ – in the words of our first president Douglas Hyde – and the images of how our country came together to celebrate the role models of 1916 and 2016 in the book show the vibrancy of Ireland today.
The Proclamation ‘guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens’, and Centenary makes the role of women in the Rising and the celebrations a vital point. The book does well with powerful insights into how the 77 women of 1916 are commemorated and how Irish society continues to strive to the ideals of equality outlined 100 years ago.
Today people all over the globe feel a connection to this small island, with up to 70 million people counting themselves as at least partly Irish.
This is why the Rising, one of the most important events in our nation’s history, was marked by events the world over.
These days, Ireland is a modern nation looking to forge relationships in every corner of the globe and, by commemorating the universal values of the Rising globally, Ireland can continue to pass its values and its warmth to everyone who encounters it.
Opening with the words of President Michael D Higgins, the book sets out what the Rising meant and continues to mean to a country and how we can connect people to events slowly moving out of living memory.
Tapping into Ireland’s values today, their connection with the principles of the Rising and how they are channelled through our people, Centenary captures a moment in time poignantly and cements the legacy of the Rising as well as how we celebrate it.
Centenary is a record about people. Their accounts and their stories are the book’s strength. Everything is put into context by real people and this is how the Rising and the commemorations are best preserved.