Saint Patrick's Day

St. Patrick is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland. He was born in the fourth century and is famous for bringing Christianity into Ireland. St. Patrick’s Day falls on the 17th of March.

Saint Patrick's Day

St Patrick’s Day is now celebrated throughout the world, not just in Ireland, with the largest parade taking place in New York City.

There are several elements of this Irish festival that children love to find out about and you can find numerous on-line resources to help you prepare a very culturally rewarding lesson for both you and your young learners. This festival is full of magical stones, Irish fairies, hidden treasure, lucky charms; everything’s green and there’s even a rainbow with secrets at the end of it. What more could you ask for in a fantasy filled English lesson.

St. Patrick is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland. He was born in the fourth century and is famous for bringing Christianity into Ireland. St. Patrick’s Day is a very well known Irish national holiday, which is celebrated not only in Ireland but all around the world. It falls on the 17th of March.

History of St. Patrick

St. Patrick was born to wealthy parents in the late fourth century. Until the age of 16, he thought of himself as a pagan. He was kidnapped and sold as a slave at this age by Irish marauders. It was during this capture that he turned to God.

He managed to escape after being a slave for six years and then studied in a monastery in Gaul for 12 years. This was when he knew that his ‘calling’ was to try and convert all the pagans in Ireland to Christianity.

St. Patrick went around Ireland founding monasteries and successfully converting people to Christianity. The Celtic Druids were very unhappy with him and tried to arrest him several times but he always managed to escape.

After 30 years of being a missionary in Ireland, he finally settled down in a place called County Down. He died on the 17th of March, AD 461.

Legend and Folklore

Shamrocks, leprechauns and the blarney stone are associated with St. Patrick’s Day. Shamrocks are threeleaved clovers found growing in patches on grass. You are thought to be lucky if you find a four-leaved clover, so do keep it if you ever come across one!

Leprechauns are little Irish fairies, and they are thought to work as shoe-makers for other fairies. The Irish say that if a leprechaun is caught by a human, he will reveal where he hides his pot of gold. On this day, pictures of shamrocks and leprechauns are hung everywhere. Some people even dress up as leprechauns complete with their big green hats!

The village of Blarney is situated northwest of the Irish city of Cork. Blarney comes from the Irish word ‘An blarna’, meaning the plain. Blarney Castle is a very famous castle in this village and is 90 feet tall. The world famous Blarney Stone is on the top story. It is said that if one kisses this stone, one will be given the gift of eloquence, meaning to have beautiful speaking abilities. Nowadays, the word blarney means the ability to influence and coax with fair words and soft speech without offending.

Legend also says that St. Patrick could raise people from the dead. He is well-known for driving the snakes out of Ireland, although many people dispute how true this is! Another great story was how he used the shamrock, with its three leaves, to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost) to his followers.

What Do People Do on St. Patrick’s Day?

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated world-wide with people dancing and singing in Irish pubs, watching the St. Patrick’s Day parade, drinking ‘green’ beer, wearing green clothes and just generally having a good time. Children in Ireland have a tradition of pinching their friends who don’t wear green on this day!

Traditional Food and Drink on St. Patrick’s Day

Bacon and cabbage is what most people have on this day. Another popular dish is Irish soda bread and potato pancakes. Irish pub owners go crazy on this day, putting green food colouring into their beers and traditional Irish Guinness Stout is a sell out in all Irish pubs! People also drink lots of Irish coffee, which is made with warm whiskey, sugar, coffee and topped off with cream. Sounds delicious? It is!

Irish Proverbs

The Irish have many proverbs but here are some favourites.

• Better the coldness of a friend than the sweetness of an enemy.
• Be nice to them on the way up. You might meet them all on the way down.
• Let your anger set with the sun and not rise again with it.

Irish Humour

The Irish are famous for their jokes and good nature. Here’s an example:

Definition of an Irish husband:

He hasn’t kissed his wife in 20 years but he will kill any man who does!

Now that you know almost everything about St. Patrick’s Day, go out on March the 17th and enjoy yourselves! Why not try and spot a leprechaun or two to find your pot of gold…?

Whatever it may be, don’t forget to wear green on this special day!

Blarney stone

The real Blarney Stone lies in Blarney Castle in Island and it is said to have magical powers.

Legend says that an old woman cast a spell on it to thank the King for saving her life. When he kissed the stone he would be able to charm people with his words. Kissing it today will bring you luck.

Irish fairy - leprechaun

Leprechauns don’t have a very good reputation. They’re small, green and greedy. They have a pot of gold which they’ve hidden somewhere…at the end of a rainbow maybe? It’s up to you to find out.

The shamrock

The difference between a shamrock and a four-leaf clover is that the first is the national emblem of Ireland. St Patrick referred to the three leaves as a symbol of the Holy Trinity. A four-leaf clover is rare and is seen to be a lucky charm.

Colours

The main colour associated with St Patrick’s Day is green. This comes from the clothes a leprechaun wears to the symbolic green shamrock. There is even a custom of pinching people who aren’t wearing green on St Patrick’s Day but this is not something you want to pass on to your young learners! The colours of the rainbow can also be integrated into any lesson on St Patrick’s Day as this is supposedly where the leprechaun hides his pot of gold.

Recipes

Here’s a simple recipe you could do with your class. If this isn’t possible you could pre-cook the cookies and get your class to decorate them with the Irish flag colours.

Irish flag cookies ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Food colouring for Icing

Preparation:

Cream together butter and confectioners' sugar in a large bowl. Beat in vanilla and egg extract. Mix well. In a medium sized bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Blend into the butter mixture. Divide dough into thirds and shape them into balls. Taking 1/3 of the dough at a time, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface. With a knife, cut dough into rectangles about 2 inches high by 3 inches long. (6 x 8 cm). Place rectangles on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F (175 degrees C) oven until they turn light brown. Cool completely on a wire rack. Frost cookies with Irish Flag Frosting. Make a 1 inch green stripe on the left side of the rectangles and a 1 inch orange strip on the right side, leaving the middle one inch unfrosted.

More St Patrick's Day games

• http://www.billybear4kids.com: memory cards
• http://www.billybear4kids.com/online or printable bingo cards
• http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft: a pot of gold board game to make

Jokes

These are great for practising questions and answers. Print off a few and jumble up the questions and answers. See if they can match them back together.

http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/jokes.html