WE STUDY ENGLISH LANGUAGE: St Patrick's Day

WELCOME TO IRELAND!!!

IRISH FLAG COLOURS:

GREEN=CATHOLICS (REPUBLIC OF IRELAND)

ORANGE=PROTESTANTS (NOTHERN IRELAND-UK)

WHITE=PEACE BETWEEN BOTH

1.AND WHERE IS IRELAND?

2. WHO WAS ST.PATRICK?

St.Patrick was born in Scotland in 385 A.D., at the age of 16 he was made prisioner by some Irish raiders and spent 6 years in captivity, he finally escaped and returned home.

He became a priest. One night he had a dream about God, in this dream he was told to teach people about God.

As priest he was sent back to Ireland and he started to convert Irish people to Christianity. He was familiar with the Irish culture so he used Irish symbols in his teachings.

For example he used the sun (an Irish symbol) in a cross:

He used shamrocks to talk about the Trinity:

He died in March 17th 461 A.D. This date is used to celebrate St.Patrick's Day not only in Ireland but in the USA as well, since many Irish people emigrated to the States a long time ago, in fact the first parade took place in New York in 1762.

It is said that St.Patricks drove all the snakes away from Ireland, but it is just a symbol the snakes represent the pagans he converted to Christianity.

3. LEPRECHAUNS

They are creatures coming from the celtic tradition. They mended fairies' shoes. They don't have anything to do with St. Patrick's celebration but they were introduced into this Irish celebration by a Walt Disney movie and they became popular.

Thay have a pot of gold and they use rainbows to move from one place to another.

4. OTHER IRISH SYMBOLS

The harp:

The harp is another well-known Irish symbol, it was used by a popular Irish beer called Guinness, later the Irish government used it as a symbol as well, both symbols are identical, except for the fact that the Guinness Harp faces left, while the official government version faces right because of copyright reasons.

5. GAELIC: A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE

GAELIC is a very ancient celtic language spoken in Ireland, it is used as a second language in the Republic of Ireland.

'I live in Ireland'="Tá mé i mo chónaí i nÉirinn"

There is a popular Irish group called The Corrs, they have some songs in Gaelic language listen how this language sounds like. It is translated into English and Spanish.