Reflecting the Rising
Easter Monday, 28 March 2016
Conradh na Gaeilge, Dublin’s Irish-Language Centre, 6 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2
11.00 – 15.00 An Claidheamh Soluis Print Workshop (for children in Irish and English)
11.00 – 17.00 An interactive history of Conradh na Gaeilge
11.00 – 17.00 Complimentary tea and coffee
11.00 – 12.00 Guided tour
12.00 – 13.00 Guided tour
13.00 – 14.00 Guided tour
14.00 – 15.00 Guided tour
15.00 – 16.00 Guided tour
16.00 – 17.00 Guided tour
Amharclann na Mainistreach | The Abbey Theatre, 26 – 27 Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1
16.00 – 17.00 An Filleadh written by Alan Titley, performed by Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh, Rathfarnham
Eoin Mac Néill was a founder of Conradh na Gaeilge while six of the seven signatories of the Easter Proclamation in 1916 were members of The Gaelic League, so Conradh na Gaeilge has organised a choice of family events as part of the RTÉ 1916: Reflecting the Rising | Radharc ar an Réabhlóid in the Irish-language centre at Uimhir 6 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, from 11.00am – 6.00pm on Easter Monday (28 March 2016).
An Claidheamh Soluis Print Workshop
A bilingual print workshop for families will run every hour from 11.00am – 3.00pm to give children the chance to experience printing in Irish with the old Gaelic script, just as Patrick Pearse did when he was editor of An Claidheamh Soluis, the most influential newspaper in the pre-Rising period, from 1903 – 1909.
Guided Tours
The first guided tour of Uimhir 6 will also start at 11.00am, where attendees will hear the history of the building that was a home and university hall of Cardinal John Newman when he established the first Catholic University in Ireland in 1854, that was a Sinn Féin bank during the War of Independence, that functioned as the Department of Finance under Michael Collins’ command under the First Dáil in 1919, and that currently serves as the headoffice of Conradh na Gaeilge today. Actors from Trinity College’s Irish-language society, An Cumann Gaelach – a registered branch of Conradh na Gaeilge – will also present the history of the building and of the Irish language in an interactive exhibition in 6 Harcourt Street throughout the day.
The Irish language was intrinsic to the innovative thinking of the Gaelic Leaguers and central to the vision the leaders of the Easter Rising had for Ireland in 1916, while the history of the state is inextricably bound up with the building at Uimhir 6 Harcourt Street, a building that has now become the heart of the urban Gaeltacht in Dublin. Conradh na Gaeilge is delighted to have the opportunity to showcase this fascinating and exciting history to the public as part of the RTÉ 1916: Reflecting the Rising event in the capital on Easter Monday, and we wholeheartedly welcome everyone to visit Dublin’s Irish-language centre at 6 Harcourt Street during the commemoration.
1916 Commemorative Shop Display
The opinions and interests of those involved in the cultural revival in 1916 will also be on display in the capital’s shop windows on Easter Monday 2016, thanks to the 1916 Commemorative Shop Display coordinated by Conradh na Gaeilge in association with companies that placed adverts in An Claidheamh Soluis between 1899 – 1932, and are still in business today.
Performance of An Filleadh
Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh from Rathfarnham, Dublin will also perform An Filleadh on the main stage of the Abbey Theatre in the capital at 4.00pm on Easter Monday as one of the highlights of the Féile na Físe commemoration programme organised by Conradh na Gaeilge as part of this year’s international Irish-language festival Seachtain na Gaeilge. An Filleadh is the only Irish-language drama in Irish currently scheduled for performance in the Abbey Theatre in 2016, and the play was written by Alan Titley especially for Conradh na Gaeilge’s Féile na Físe.
Conradh na Gaeilge’s 2016 Commemoration Programme
The events scheduled in Dublin’s Irish-language centre at 6 Harcourt Street and in the Abbey Theatre on Easter Monday form part of Conradh na Gaeilge’s 2016 Commemoration Programme. In addition to the family events being organised for the RTÉ 1916: Reflecting the Rising | Radharc ar an Réabhlóid, Conradh na Gaeilge is digitising 15,000 pages of An Claidheamh Soluis, as well as reorganising its archives and making parts of its collection accessible online for the first time. Conradh na Gaeilge is also hosting a series of bilingual seminars, Plé 16, all over Ireland and overseas, seminars which focus on the key role played by members of Conradh na Gaeilge in the build up to the Rising, the intellectual freedom associated with the Irish-language movement, and the role of women in the Cultural Revival, as well as the future of Gaelic culture. Conradh na Gaeilge is currently running interactive Seó Bóthair workshops in schools throughout Ireland, Féile na Físe took place in thousands of schools on Proclamation Day (15 March 2016) as part of this year’s international Irish-language festival Seachtain na Gaeilge 2016, and a special mobile exhibition is travelling across Ireland and overseas this year.
RTÉ 1916: Reflecting the Rising
RTÉ 1916: Reflecting the Rising | Radharc ar an Réabhlóid is a large-scale public event that will take place in different locations across Dublin on Easter Monday 2016 and will include hundreds of talks, walking tours, music, dance, street art, street theatre, and moments of reflection and celebration. RTÉ 1916: Reflecting the Rising aims to provide Irish people of all ages with a one day canvas on which to explore the Rising and our relationship with it, both historically and contemporaneously. In locations on both sides of the River Liffey and on the river itself, the event is a public invitation to commemorate, to celebrate and to understand this significant moment in our collective history.
