Thursday, March 17, 2016

St. Patrick's Day Fun & Facts

 We incorporated some St.Patrick's Day fun  into our school day, today...
While the children worked on their morning studies, I was in the kitchen, baking up some of the greenest cupcakes ever!




All the kiddos with their green cupcakes, wearing their green shirts...or skivvies ;)

The 5 year old remembered a certain incident awhile back, when Mama made Pink velvet cupcakes & exclaimed,"We're gonna poop GREEN this week!...I know... Leprechaun poop!"

While they enjoyed their cupcakes, I read a few, fun tidbits of  why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day....Some of which was new to me as well.

-St. Patrick’s Day is the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland, named St. Patrick. Patrick wasn’t born Irish. He was brought to Ireland as a slave after he was kidnapped.  He escaped back to Britain to be with his family. While there, a voice told him to go back to Ireland.  He was ordained as a priest and spent the rest of his life working to bring Christianity to Ireland.
-St. Patrick’s Day is the national holiday of Ireland and we celebrate it each year on March 17 because this is the day he is rumored to have died.
-People search for four leaf clovers which are very rare.  Finding one is supposed to be very lucky. A shamrock is actually a three leaf, clover like plant.
-Legend has it that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit).
-The color of St. Patrick’s Day is green.  Ireland is known for it’s green shades of grass and the shamrock is green as well.
-Traditionally people eat corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day.
-Some people claim that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. However, science has proven that there never were any snakes in Ireland because of the cold climate. It is thought that the word snakes in this legend actually represent driving out the pagan ways when he introduced Christianity.
-Irish legend says that there is a small Irish fairy called the leprechaun.  He wears pointed shoes, a hat, and a leather apron.  According to the legend, he’s very unfriendly and lives alone in the forest guarding his pots of gold.  The story says that if you find a leprechaun, he will have to tell you where is gold is hidden. If you look away for even one second, the leprechaun will disappear along with all his gold.
      
...& there you have your Thursday, St. Patrick's Day, History lesson...

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!