2015 Term 1 Week 6: Saint Patrick's Day

The 17th of March is Saint Patrick's Day

Here's a Saint Patrick's Day puzzle. Match the pictures. Look for a leprechaun, a pot of gold, a shamrock, a horse shoe, an Irish flag, balloons, and  a leprechaun's hat. 

Here's a jigsaw puzzle of Irish dancers. Look at the top of the page and you can change the number of pieces you want to have for the puzzle.

Saint Patrick’s Day is a special holiday in the Republic of Ireland and  Northern Ireland.  

It marks the death of the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick. 

Not a lot is known about Patrick, but we do know that he was born in Britain, and at the age of 16 was captured  by Irish raiders  and taken back to Ireland where he was kept as a slave, working as a shepherd.  He became Christian, and escaped from Ireland  to return to Britain where he trained as a priest. He then returned to Ireland to convert the largely pagan Irish to Christianity.  Eventually he returned to Britain where he died.

Saint Patrick’s Day is  a day when many people with (or without) Irish ancestry celebrate the Irish culture and history.  It is also a popular festival in the USA where many Irish people immigrated since the 1700s.    Early Irish immigrants to America started the tradition of a Saint Patrick’s Day parade which still happens today.  

People wear green and often drink Irish beer or whiskey and eat Irish food - especially corned beef and cabbage.

A shamrock, pot of gold and leprechauns are all associated  with Saint Patrick’s Day and are all associated with good luck.

 

Here's a short video with some of thehistory of Saint Patrick's Day. 

Saint Patrick's Day is an important celebration for many people in the USA. Here's more information about it.

Some of the most well known instruments in Irish music are:

- The tin whistle. It belongs to the wood wind section of instruments.

- The bodhran drum (pronounced  a bit like bow-ron ). It belongs in the percussion section of instruments. Watch it being played here.

The fiddle is just another name for the violin.  

The uilleann pipes  are the Irish version of bagpipes. Notice from the picture below that you don't stand to play them, or blow into the mouthpiece as you do with the Scottish bagpipes. You can see them being played here.

Here's a group playing many traditional Irish instruments. Can you pick out the sounds of the tine whistle, the uilleann pipes, the fiddle, the harp and the bodhran?

Here is music with the whistle and bodhran and many images of Ireland. 

Instruments used in traditional Irish music.

Irish music is also very much associated with Irish dancing. Here's Riverdance from the 1990s. 

And here's a computer-generated version of chimpanzees dancing to Riverdance. No animals were harmed in the making of this video...

By popular request - here's some more Irish dancing. 
This is a modern take on Irish dancing. 
 This one's  called Warriors by a dancing group called Feet of Flames.
And Happy Feet! 

Here's an Irish dancing flashmob - at a shopping mall in Vienna.  

The Rattlin' Bog is a fun Irish folk song about a  a tree in a bog (swamp).  As with most folk songs, there are many versions  of the song, and the lyrics (song words) differ in each version. 

Here's one version of The Rattlin' Bog. 

(Chorus 2x) 

O ro the rattlin' bog

The bog down in the valley - o 

O ro the rattlin' bog

The bog down in the valley - o 

And in the bog there was a tree

A rare tree, a rattlin' tree

With the tree in the hole 
and the hole in the bog,

and the bog down in the valley-o 

(Chorus 1 x) 

And on the tree there was a limb

A rare limb, a rattlin'  limb, 

With the limb on the tree, 
and the tree in the hole, 

and the hole in the bog

and the bog down in the valley-o. 

And on the limb there was a branch ...

And on the branch there was a twig ...

And on the twig there was a nest ... 

And in the nest there was an egg ...

And in the egg there was a chick ...

And on the chick there was feather ...  

And on the feather there was a flea ... 

 This is a well known Irish group called the Corrs, playing the tin whistle, fiddle and bodhran. They are accompanied by an electric piano.  

The Muppets do Danny Boy - usually a very sad and serious Irish song. 

Teacher notes from TKI for the Rattlin' Bog.