Therefore, the first ‘invented tradition’ analysed is the common goal of the Irish cultural nationalists: to establish that the people of Ireland had a rich and ancient culture which justified their sense of nationhood. Unlike political nationalists, such as O’Connell, Thomas Davis with the group ‘Young Ireland’ believed that an essential part of the existence of a sense of nationhood amongst the Irish is the Irish folk culture. The group published The Nation newspaper in 1842, which inspired to look at the ancient Irish past.
Davis mostly wrote about Irish Celtic past, published the works of George Petrie, and also campaigned against the construction of the road through the prehistoric remains at Newgrange. Davis had a sense of the importance of cultural things and supported this kind of expression of nationalism. (‘Ireland’, 2008) George Petrie believed ‘that Ireland’s claim to nationhood rested on its immemorial religion and culture’ which agreed with Davis’ view. In his opinion the Irish civilization had been destroyed by the English and that it was essential to understand what had been lost by studying the landscape, place names, bardic writing and antiquities. While Petrie focused on antiquities, a parallel movement to revive the Irish language had begun.
The survival of the Irish language is an important way of presenting the Irish nation. O’Hickey (1898) states that the language is the only reliable index to the national life of the past. The founder of the Gaelic League, Douglas Hyde, set goals to promote language as one of a set of essential and distinctive cultural characteristics. It supports the claim that political independence of nations suppressed by dominant political cultures of Germany, Austro-Hungary, Russia and England can be gained by preserving the language. (Boyce, 2004 in Laurence, 2008 p.161) ‘Nationalists’ emphasis on the past inevitably drew on the period of the earliest Irish legends, before the era of written history.’ (Laurence, 2008 p. 171) Other documents found in the Gaelic League archives advocated not simply the preservation of the Irish language, but to the extent of using it as a spoken tongue and as a modern literacy language. (Fahy, 1890 in Laurence, 2008 p. 162) It is an important part of the past, because Hyde’s campaign to revive Irish language and its traditions had helped to evoke the movement for a complete partition from Britain. (Laurence, 2008 p. 163)
A second way in which Irish nationalist shaped the past, was by rejecting the concept of British architecture. Ireland had little interest in preserving anything that was British, for much of the twentieth century. (‘Ireland’, 2008) The Irish nationalists put a lot of effort restoring specifically Irish buildings, even though there was no overt government policy. Possibly, the main reason might have been a lack of money. Buildings, such as Dublin Castle, the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham were left to decay. Dublin Castle was the seat of British power and the Royal Hospital was the living place of the commander of British troops in Ireland. The choice to abandon these buildings is clear – they were too ‘British’. Based on the Act, Newgrange and the Hill of Tara were one of many sites safeguarded.
The Hill of Tara is a Christian site, which became a symbol of nationalists’ by the middle of nineteenth century. Disagreeing with the Act of Union between Britain and Ireland, Daniel O’Connell started a campaign for Catholic emancipation. He held a Catholic mass with over 500 000 people on the Hill of Tara, which brought back the spirit of the high kings of ancient Ireland. This shows that Tara had become of great importance and significance to Irish nation.
Newgrange is a Neolithic site, the best known Irish passage tomb. It is surrounded by a kerb of ninety seven stones, the entrance stone is highly decorated – a masterpiece of megalithic art. (World Heritage Brochure, 2010) The excavation started in 1967 by Professor O’Kelly. The results were significant – it showed that Newgrange was constructed in 3200 BC and it is the oldest known astronomically aligned structure in the world, hence it is no surprise that Irish nationalists wanted to preserve the site. ‘The restoration of Newgrange reflected a strand of Irish nationalism that looked for inspiration in ancient glories.’ (‘Ireland’, 2008)
Both the Hill of Tara and Newgrange were high on the list of images Irish people have of Ireland. Even though they have been abandoned and plundered by local authorities and farmers for roads and building materials for centuries before, they held a significant place in Irish national consciousness. ‘The sense of the past that prevailed in the Irish free state clearly embraced the notion of ancient glory and there is no doubt at all that in Ireland the archaeology was driven by this desire to vindicate the national past.’ (‘Ireland’, 2008)
To conclude with, Laurence, 2008, p. 156 says Irish nationalists referred to an idea of the Irish past in which the English were absent. The examples of cultural nationalism and preservation of built heritage described refers to a distinctively Irish past as justification for the claim to Ireland’s status as a nation. (Laurence, 2008 p. 164) The ancient and uniquely Irish past provided a standpoint for the nationalists. ‘The tradition has been mobilised to build a nationalist ideology in Ireland. It is a selective view of the past and conforms to the idea of the invention of tradition.’ (Laurence, 2008 p. 174) Clearly, the concept of presenting the past in a specific way, in order to achieve specific goals is not founded in a desire to be wilfully misleading. Rather, it is for the nobler cause of affecting a specific change in a group of people, in Ireland’s case to bring about a greater sense of national pride, based on noble and ancient heritage.
Bibliography
Brett, D., (1984) The Invention of Tradition, Circa, no. 4, pp. 19 – 20.
‘Ireland’ (2008) (AA100 DVD Video), Milton Keynes, Open University.
Johnson, N., C., (1995) Where Geography and History Meet: Heritage Tourism and the Big House in Ireland, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 86, no. 3, pp.551-566.
Laurence, A. (2008) ‘Ireland: The Invention of Tradition’, in Price, C. (ed.) Tradition and Dissent (AA100 Book 2), Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 149 - 190.
Reading 5.1: (E. Hobsbawm, 1995, in Laurence, 2008, pp. 176-180)
Reading 5.2: (O’Hickey, 1898, in Laurence, 2008, p.180)
‘World Heritage – Ireland, Ireland – A Country of Rich Heritage and Culture’, 2010, published by Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Wexford [www.worldheritageireland.ie].
The Act that is mentioned here is the Act that government framed to protect monuments built before 1700.