AT YOUR OWN PACE: St. PATRICK'S DAY

Facts about St. Patrick's Day Holiday

St. Patrick’s Day is observed on March 17 because that is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that he died on March 17 in the year 461 AD. It is also a worldwide celebration of Irish culture and history. St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland, and a provincial holiday in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
In Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, people traditionally wear a small bunch of shamrocks on their jackets or caps. Children wear orange, white and green badges, and women and girls wear green ribbons in their hair.
Many cities have a St. Patrick’s Day parade. Dublin, the capital of Ireland, has a huge St. Patrick’s Day festival from March 15-19, that features a parade, family carnivals, treasure hunt, dance, theatre and more. In North American, parades are often held on the Sunday before March 17. Some paint the yellow street lines green for the day! In Chicago, the Chicago River is dyed green with a special dye that only lasts a few hours. There has been a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston, Massachusetts since 1737. Montreal is home to Canada’s longest running St. Patrick’s Day parade, which began in 1824.

Facts about Saint Patrick

St. Patrick was born in 385 AD somewhere along the west coast of Britain, possibly in the Welsh town of Banwen. At age 16, he was captured and sold into slavery to a sheep farmer. He escaped when he was 22 and spent the next 12 years in a monastery. In his 30s he returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary. He died at Saul in 461 AD and is buried at Downpatrick.

Facts about the Irish

34 million Americans have Irish ancestry, according to the 2003 US Census. That’s almost nine times the population of Ireland, which has 4.1 million people.
Some American towns have “Irish” names. You could visit: Mount Gay-Shamrock, West Virginia; Shamrock Lakes, Indiana; Shamrock, Oklahoma; Shamrock, Texas; Dublin, California and Dublin, Ohio.
The harp is the symbol of Ireland. The color green is also commonly associated with Ireland, also known as “the Emerald Isle.”
The Irish flag is green, white and orange. The green symbolizes the people of the south, and orange, the people of the north. White represents the peace that brings them together as a nation.
The name “lephrechaun” has several origins. It could be from the Irish Gaelic word “leipreachan,” which means “a kind of aqueous sprite.” Or, it could be from “leath bhrogan,” which means “shoemaker.”

17th MARCH

Follow this LINK with all the information you need to enjoy the festival.

SAINT PATRICK'S DAY CLOZE

Fill in the blanks with the words below:

celebration, monastery, Ireland, legend, ribbons, fairy, tricky, vanish, Saint, born, dye, captured, snakes, pinched, mischief, pot of gold, slave, angel, eye,miracles parades, shamrocks, green.

St. PATRICK'S DAY

St. Patrick’s Day is a 1._______________ honoring Saint Patrick. People wear 2._____________ colored clothing and some women wear green 3.____________ in their hair. People who don’t wear green clothing get 4._______________ as a punishment. People also wear 5.______________, which are a symbol of Ireland. As well, there are 6.____________ on the streets and sometimes people 7.______________ the rivers green.

SAINT PATRICK

8.____________ Patrick is the patron saint of 9.______________. According to 10._____________, Saint Patrick was 11.______________ in Britain and then 12._______________ by pirates and sold as a 13._______________ in Ireland. He escaped with the help of an 14. _____________ and then lived in a 15.____________ for twelve years before going back to Ireland. When he returned to Ireland he performed many 16.______________. According to one myth, Saint Patrick got rid of all of the 17.________________ in Ireland.

LEPRECHAUNS

A leprechaun is an Irish 18. ____________. They are very 19.____________ and like to make 20.______________. If you catch a leprechaun, they can tell you where a 21.___________________ is. But be careful, If you take your 22.____________ off of them for an instant, they 23._________________.

ANSWERS
1. CELEBRATION
2. GREEN
3. RIBBONS
4. PINCHED
5. SHAMROCKS
6. PARADES
7. DYE
8. SAINT
9. IRELAND
10. LEGEND
11. BORN
12. CAPTURED
13. SLAVE
14. ANGEL
15. MONASTERY