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Easter The Dating Of Easter: In the year 325, Constantine 1, Roman emperor convoked the Council of Nicaea. Who unanimously ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the Chrisian world on the first Sunday, after the first full, moon after the vernal equinox. If the full moon should occur on a Sunday and thereby coincide with the passover festival, Easter should be commemorated on the Sunday following. Coincidence of the feasts of Easter and Passover was thus avoided. By our calculations, Easter should fall on the following dates for the next 10 years.
The last time Easter Sunday fell this late was in 1916 and the very next day the Easter Rising took place. The Easter Rising, was an armed uprising of Irish Nationalists against the rule of Britain in Ireland. The uprising began on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, and was centred in Dublin. The chief objectives were the attainment of political freedom and the establishment of an irish republic. The Rising began on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916. At noon a group of about 300 men lead by Pádraig Pearse took over the General Post Office in Dublin. Pádraig Pearse stood in front of the building and read the proclamation of the Irish Republic. Other important buildings, such as the College of Surgeons, Boland's Mill and Jacob's Biscuit Factory, were also occupied. The people of Dublin were taken completely by surprise. So were the British, many of whose officers were at Fairyhouse Races that day. By afternoon the British had begun to attack the rebels, and fierce fighting continued throughout the week. On Wednesday a British gunboat sailed up the Liffey and fired on the rebels. By Saturday the GPO was a burning ruin, and the leaders of the Rising knew that there was no hope of victory. In order to prevent further death and destruction, Pearse and his followers agreed to surrender unconditionally on the afternoon of April 29th.
Padraig Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas Clarke,
Thomas MacDonagh, Sean MacDermott, Joseph Plunkett & Eamonn Ceannt All of the above men were executed by the British for their efforts in trying to secure a free Ireland!
Note: (1) Roger Casement was executed in Pentonville prison London. A poem: Awaiting freedom from my mother’s womb At Resurrection time, some glint of rebel steel Pierced deep my soul, so deep That fifty years have not erased the thrill The names of Pearse and Plunkett, Clarke, MacDonagh, Connolly Ceannt and Sean Mac Diarmada arouse, Of freedom born in blood. Wresting freedom from a tyrant’s hand Had often been essayed on Ireland’s soil. Essayed at cost, at bitter cost By men of eager hearts and giant mind, yet still Each century brought fourth. The poets, princes of pen, To thrill with their philosophy A nation’s captive hearts. No lust of blood inflamed the freedom verse To turn the ploughshare to the sword; They unlocked hearts, e'en timid hearts To dreams undreamt of within captive breasts, And set vast floods of liberty afloat Upon a sea too long content With anchored hopes, And flotsam fears. Who can recall an Emmet or a Tone, A Mitchel or a Davitt or Devoy, Without a glorious surging of the blood And anticipation of emancipation From the long-remembered wrongs Upon a nation's rights? Just tribute must be paid by Freedmen to felon's heirs. Half a century ago our resurrection came Heralded by another name, the name of Pearse, An Apollo with a quiver of words, Music-tipped arrows to reach the very souls Of those who longed and longed for freedom's balm; Gentle leader of a quiet few Who braved a tyrant's might To make a bondman free. Let me praise him who close by Rossa’s grave Praised the virtue of a valiant man From a heart and tongue pregnant then With death-decision made for Freedom's urgent birth; A man whose spiritual eye could see the joy Of a ladybird upon a stalk, Or a rabbit in a field at play. There were no deaths in Dublin on that Easter day some fifty years ago- Such music makers cannot die As many mercenary soldiers do With battles lost or won. They have but set the music to a song That ever holds us bound, Yet leaves us ever free. Like Pearse or Plunkett, MacDonagh and Mac Diarmada Ceantt and Clarke, And Connolly DOMINIC CRILLY
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