We really like the story of St. Patrick.
It’s a fun holiday. It’s been popular in the USA for many years.
I love the prayer Breastplate. In part:
Christ be within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ inquired, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
Legend of St. Patrick:
Patrick’s birth name was Maewyn Succat. He was born a Roman citizen in Roman Britain, in the town of Banna Venta Berniae, sometime in the late 300s AD. He was kidnapped into slavery and brought to Ireland. He escaped and became a priest, went back to Ireland, where he had a lot of luck converting the Druids into Christians.
He changed his name to Patricius (or Patrick), which derives from the Latin term for “father figure,” after he became a priest.
It became a popular feast day or holiday in the 17th century.
Since the holiday falls during Lent, it provides Christians a day off from the prescriptions of abstinence leading up to Easter.
The first ever St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in Boston in 1737. In 1762, the first New York City parade took place.
It wasn’t until 1798, the year of the Irish Rebellion, that the color green became officially associated with the day. (It used to be blue.)
Thanks to a marketing push from Budweiser in the 1980s, downing (green) beer has become a common way to celebrate.
How We Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day:
- We visited Ireland in 2016.
- I designed an Ireland unit study.
- Check out these fun preschool St. Patrick’s Day works.
- Teach the Trinity with shamrocks.
- Go on a nature rainbow scavenger hunt.
- Special Irish-themed meal. We don’t like corned beef, so I sometimes make pastrami sandwiches or lamb stew.
- Make soda bread.
- Game Night.
- Wear green of course!
St. Patrick Resources:
- St. Patrick Unit by The Homeschool Mom
- The Kennedy Adventures St. Patrick printables and Snacks and
Preschool and - March Saints Books
- Rainbow Watercolor Salt by the Rhythms of Play
- Fruit Rainbow by Passion for Savings
- Skittles science by Homeschool Preschool
- Lucky Charms catapulting from Joy in the Works
- Science activities from Feel Good Teaching
- Printables from You Brew My Tea
- Sugar Spice and Glitter Unit
- EdHelper Resources
- Montessori From the Heart unit
- DLTK St. Patrick
- Crayola St. Patrick
- Printables from Spaceships and Laserbeams
- Preschool Printables and Booklet from Teach Mama
- A Slice of Smith Life
- Christian Preschool Printables
- Three-Sided Wheel Trinity Printables
- 50 crafts and recipes from I Heart Naptime
- Red Ted Art crafts
- Living Montessori Now
- Paper Dali coloring page
- coloring page from Classical Family
- Homeschool Share lapbooks
- Embark on the Journey pack
- Gift of Curiosity pack
- Resourceful Mama dot printables
- pack from 3 Dinosaurs
- preK pack from Over the Big Moon
- The Notebooking Fairy pages
- The Notebooking Nook pages
- Cynce’s Place pages
- Notebooking Pages St. Patrick
- Story of St. Patrick by Homegrown Learners
- My St. Patrick’s Day Pinterest board
Learn about the other patron saint of Ireland: St. Brigid.
How do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?
Lucky you, getting to visit Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day (or any day!) I always loved St. Patrick’s Day, but now I have even more reason to celebrate. It’s my grandson’s birthday! Our little leprechaun!
Visiting Ireland! Now that’s a way to celebrate I’d be thrilled about! Your post once again brought me back a few years to the days of putting together studies like this for our kids. So fun!
What a great resource! Thank you for sharing this wealth of information! Blessings!
I love the breastplate prayer too! I’ve often prayed it in times of stress or difficulty and I find it so comforting. I really enjoyed reading this post, Jennifer. I found it really interesting – I didn’t know about the use of the colour green not starting until 1798, although I knew the phase ‘wearing o’ the green’ had something to do with the rebellion. Thank you so much for sharing with Hearth and Soul. Pinning and sharing this post! Have a lovely weekend.
I’m a fan of Celtic prayers, too. They’re very raw and passionate. Thanks for sharing with us at Creatively Crafty. We’ve just started a Facebook group called Creatively Crafty Showcase and you’re invited to join us! It’s another way to share this post and just about anything creative plus we’ll have opportunities to interact/support each other. You’ll find us here http://bit.ly/2TL8Pli. Hope to see you soon!
St. Patrick really is such an inspiration! Thanks for sharing this at Booknificent Thursday on Mommynificent.com!
Tina