"May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow. And may trouble avoid you wherever you go."
Irish Blessing
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today is March 17, and every year on March 17, people celebrate the feast day of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.
What do you know about this holiday? Make a list of facts and then compare your answers to the information in the video!
~St. Patrick's Day in Michigan~
There are many cities throughout Michigan, such as Clare, Grand Ledge, Grand Rapids, Holland, Port Huron, Bay City, and Detroit, which celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Many of these cities have parades and some even hold festivals.
In Detroit, there is a section of the city called Corktown. This area got its name after Country Cork, Ireland. Large numbers of Irish immigrants moved there in the 1840s to escape the Great Irish Potato Famine, and by the 1850s, half of the residents were of Irish decent. Nowadays, this is where the St. Patrick's Day race and parade are held.
Each year, the St. Patrick Parade Corktown Race raises money for the Saint Patrick's Senior Center, which is a community based health clinic for the seniors in the City of Detroit. The race has become one of the largest 5km races in Michigan, and its participants have grown to over 8,000 people.
March 17 is the day for the color green. Everybody wears green clothes, green makeup, they dye their hair green or wear green wigs, and they even put edible green dye in their food and drinks. What food would you like to dye green today?
~Movie Fun~
There are many Irish movies out there for the family to watch and enjoy together, including these ones.
Darby O'Gill and the Little People is a Walt Disney movie which came out in 1959. It is based on the Darby O'Gill stories written by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh. Darby O'Gill has just been fired, and he is reluctant to tell his daughter that a younger man has taken his position. On his way home, Darby falls through a portal which lands him in a mystical land where he meets the leprechaun king. He accidentally ends up taking the little king back home with him. There, he demands three wishes of the king, but the requests don't turn out as he expects.
The Secret of Roan Inish came out in 1994, and it is based on the novel Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry by Rosalie K. Fry. The movie is centered on the Irish folklores of selkies which are seals that can become human by shedding their skins. The story follows a young girl who is sent to live with her grandparents and her cousin near the island of Roan Inish, where selkies are rumored to live. The girl's younger brother is believed to have been raised by a selkie after he was swept away by the sea when he was an infant.
A Shine of Rainbows, which is also known as
Tomás and the Rainbows, is a film adaptation based on Lillian Beckwith's novel, A Shine of Rainbows. A young and lonely orphan boy is adopted by a loving woman and her husband. The husband disproves of the boy because of the boy's timidness and his halting speech and is less accepting of the boy. Through the journey of finding a place he calls home, the boy discovers himself, finds acceptance, and realizes that rainbows are all around.
The Legend of Longwood is about twelve-year-old Mickey Miller who moves with her family from New York to a small Irish village. She learns about a 300-year-old legend of the mysterious Black Knight, who continues to haunt the village due to an ancient curse. Mickey hurries to save a heard of white, magical horses and thwart the evil plans of a greedy and ruthless woman.
Song of the Sea (in Irish- Amhrán na Mara) is a movie made by the same creators of the movie The Secret of Kells. The story follows an Irish youth named Ben. He blames his mute, younger sister Saoirse, for the apparent death of his mother. He soon discovers that his sister is a selkie. She must find her voice to free supernatural creatures from a spell cast by the Celtic goddess Macha.
This movie is one of my favorites movies, and I used to watch it every year on St. Patrick's day. It was made in 2001 and it is a Disney Channel original movie. It focuses on a teenager who always seems to have luck on his side. He grows up not knowing anything about his family heritage, but he soon learns the big family secret! With the help of his family and friends, he must battle an evil leprechaun to regain a family gold charm.
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