The white dress has been chosen, not to represent the sacrament, but the excesses that have grown around the occasion of receiving First Holy Communion.
If selected, the Holy Communion Dress will become the 100th object to be included in the book, A History of Ireland in 100 Objects by Fintan O’Toole, which will be published in March 2013 by the Royal Irish Academy in association with the National Museum of Ireland and the Irish Times.
Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs correspondent with the Irish Times, has written the citation urging people to vote for what he calls, “the Big Fat First Communion,” and, “the Big Fat First Communion Dress.”
He suggests that the extravagant First Holy Communion celebration comes a close second to the price of property as a barometer of the Celtic Tiger period in Ireland.
“What for centuries had been an innocent, if significant, celebration of a child’s arrival at the use of reason and at the altar rails became vulgarised in the extreme,” Patsy McGarry wrote.
“A happy childhood rite of passage had now become more like a Little Ms Sunshine beauty pageant in the US, with stretch limos, fake tan and designer dresses, as hired photographers recorded the child’s every move. And it cost. Families in the Republic spent about €45 million on First Communions in 2012, while a further €26 million was collected in cash by the approximately 60,000 children concerned.”
Patsy McGarry also stats that such celebrations may soon end, following an intervention by the Catholic Church.
He quotes Archbishop Diarmuid Martin who said recently in Dublin, “I believe there is something wrong with extravagance. First Communion has to be something simple. I think we have to keep to that. It’s up to every parish then to decide what way they go about that to ensure there isn’t extraordinary expense.”
The Object for Our Times exhibition is being held from October 23 – December 2, at the National Museum of Ireland- Decorative Art and History, Collins Barracks.
There, the public can see and vote for their choice of the ten items shortlisted to be the 100th object in the series. There is a public vote online and a ballot sheet in the museum itself.
The objects represent various facets of modern day Ireland and include the original Anglo-Irish Bank sign from St Stephen’s Green, the outfits worn by Jean Butler and Michael Flatley in the original production of Riverdance, a pair of gloves worn by Ireland’s gold medal-winning Olympic boxer Katie Taylor as well as other objects including a decommissioned IRA weapon, a hospital trolley, a Certificate of Citizenship, two Euro coins, and a smart phone.
The book, A History of Ireland in 100 Objects by Fintan O’Toole, includes objects that open a window on to an important moment in Irish history.
Religious items include everything from The Book of Kells, to the Cross of Cong, St Patrick’s Confessions, and the Book of Common Prayer.