Information about Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island situated in the north-west of Europe. It is divided into the Republic of Ireland, which people often refer to as Ireland, and Northern Ireland. The population of the Republic of Ireland is 4.5 million. There are two official languages in the Republic of Ireland: English and Irish. The national flag is green, white and orange.

St. Patrick

He is a patron saint of Ireland, but he was born in Britain at the end of the 4th century. When he was young, he was sold as a slave in Ireland. Then he escaped to France where he lived at a monastery. He later returned to Ireland and taught people about Christianity. St. Patrick died on March 17th. The date of his death was chosen for St. Patrick’s Day.

St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland

In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is a religious holiday. People attend church services and eat a traditional meal of potatoes and cabbage. A four-day long St. Patrick’s Day Festival takes place in Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland. There is a parade, music and fireworks.

St. Patrick’s Day in the USA

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was organized in Boston, the USA. More than a hundred American cities hold St. Patrick’s Day parades. Participants wear green clothes as green is the popular colour of Ireland. Even the river in Chicago is coloured green on St. Patrick’s Day.

Irish symbols

The most famous Irish symbol is the shamrock, which is a small plant with three leaves. Irish people believe that it brings good luck. Ireland’s national emblem is the harp, which you can see for instance on the Irish euro coin.

Leprechauns

These are little creatures from Irish legends and you can see them on St. Patrick’s Day greeting cards. Leprechauns are about 70 cm tall. They are rich and keep their pot of gold in secret places. If you catch a leprechaun, he has to show you where he keeps his gold. However, if you turn your eyes away even for a second, the leprechaun will run away.

 Why St. Patrick's Day is celebrated all over the world.

Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. A patron saint takes special care of a country or group. Saint Patrick was a caring person and did many nice things for the people of Ireland. Saint Patrick was born in 385 and died around the year 460. Saint Patrick died on March 17th. March 17th is the day Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated. People march in parades and marching bands play. Corned beef and cabbage is a favourite meal on Saint Patrick's Day. Many people wear green on this day. Green is an Irish colour because of a few reasons. The first reason is because of the green shamrock leaf. According to legend, the shamrock was a sacred plant to the Druids of Ireland because its leaves formed a triad, and three was a mystical number in the Celtic religion. It was used by Saint Patrick to illustrate the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as he introduced Christianity to Ireland. In the 19th century, it was a symbol of rebellion and anyone wearing it risked death by hanging. This period spawned the phrase "the wearin' o' the green." Occasionally, a fourth leaflet will appear, making a "four-leaf clover," said to bring good luck to the person who discovers it. The second reason green is an Irish colour is because Ireland is called the "Emerald Isle" with lots of green pastures. The third reason is because the people of Ireland would burn green leaves to spread over their land to make their soil richer.

There are legends that go along with Saint Patrick's Day. A popular legend is about the leprechaun. Leprechauns are tiny people dressed in green and they collect pots of gold. The legend says that if you catch a leprechaun, he will lead you to his pot of gold.

The first Saint Patrick's Day celebration in the United States was in 1737. This day is now celebrated all over the world. Some people sing songs and dance to celebrate. The Irish dance is called the "jig". A popular song is "The Wearin' of the Green". The Irish are very thankful on this day because Saint Patrick taught them to read and write. The Irish read and write because generations passed their knowledge on to other generations.

Words such as: shamrocks, leprechauns, patron saint, St. Patrick, legends, jig, parades, leprechaun's pot of gold, corned beef and cabbage, shamrocks bring good luck

Do you know? Questions:

1. When was Saint Patrick born?

2. When did Saint Patrick die?

3. What was he known for?

4. What is a patron saint?

5. Why do people wear green on Saint Patrick's Day? List three reasons.

Wearing of the Green Goes Global

Today, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by people of all backgrounds in the United States, Canada and Australia. Although North America is home to the largest productions, St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated in other locations far from Ireland, including Japan, Singapore and Russia.

The Chicago River

Chicago is famous for a somewhat peculiar annual event: dying the Chicago River green. The tradition started in 1962, when city pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges and realized that the green dye might provide a unique way to celebrate the holiday. That year, they released 100 pounds of green vegetable dye into the river—enough to keep it green for a week!

Today, in order to minimize environmental damage, only 40 pounds of dye are used, making the river green for only several hours.

 Words and their definitions

1. Dublin - the capital and the largest city of Northern Ireland
2. St. Patrick - a patron saint of Ireland; an English missionary to Ireland
3. Luck - the chance happening of fortunate or adverse events
4. Colcannon - an Irish dish of mashed potatoes and cabbage, seasoned with butter
5. parade - an organized public procession on a festive or ceremonial occasion
6. shamrock - a trifoliate plant used as a national emblem by the Irish. The legend is that St. Patrick once plucked a leaf of it for use in illustrating the doctrine of the trinity
7. rainbow - an arc of spectral colors, usually identified as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, that appears in the sky opposite the sun as a result of the refractive dispersion of sunlight in drops of rain and mist.
8. Belfast - the capital and the largest city of Ireland, in the east-central part of the country on the Irish Sea
9. Gold - soft, yellow, corrosion-resistant element, the most malleable and ductile metal, occurring in veins and alluvial deposits and recovered by mining or by panning and sluicing
10. Leprechaun - one of a race of elves in Irish folklore who can reveal hidden treasure to those who catch them
11. Emerald - a brilliant green to grass-green transparent variety of beryl, used as a gemstone
12. Blarney stone - a stone in Blarney castle, Ireland, said to make those who kiss it proficient in the use of blarney
13. Irish - of or relating to Ireland or its people, language or culture
14. Saint - a person officially recognized, especially by canonization, as being entitled to public veneration and capable of interceding for people on earth 

Spouses - małżonkowie

weethearts – ukochana osoba

Heart-shaped – w kształcie serca

Mystery - tajemnica

Priest - ksiądz

Marriage - małżeństwo

Illegal – nielegalne

Emperor - cesarz

Prison - więzienie

Jailer – strażnik więzienny

Christmas worldwide

The Christmas season is celebrated in different ways around the world, varying by country and region. Elements common to many areas of the world include the lighting of Christmas trees, the hanging of wreaths, Christmas stockings, candy canes, and/or the creation of Nativity scenes depicting the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas carols may be sung and stories told about such figures as the Baby Jesus, St Nicholas, Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Christkindl or Grandfather Frost. The sending of Christmas cards, the exchange of Christmas time greetings, observance of fasting and/or special religious observances such as a midnight Mass or Vespers on Christmas Eve, the burning of a Yule log, and the giving and receiving of presents. Along with Easter, Christmas time is one of the most important periods on the Christian calendar, and is often closely connected to other holidays at this time of year, such as Advent, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, St. Nicholas Day, St. Stephen's Day, New Year's, and the Feast of the Epiphany.

Find more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_worldwide

Vocabulary                                        

vary – różnić się

common – wspólne

wreath - wieniec

observance of fasting – przestrzeganie postu

midnight mass – Pasterka

vespers – nieszpory

Yule log – drewno spalone w kominku w Boże Narodzenie

Feast of the Immaculate Conception – Niepokalane Poczęcie

Feast of the Epiphany – Święto Trzech Króli

Halloween

Halloween is celebrated every year on October 31st. It is one of the world’s oldest holidays, dating back over 2,000 years to the time of the Celts, an ancient group of people who lived in Western Europe. They believed that on the last day of October ghosts visited the living. To keep the ghosts away, people dressed up in frightening costumes and pretended that they were ghosts too.

Nowadays, Halloween is popular all around the world, especially in Britain, Ireland and the USA. On this day, people decorate their houses with jack-o-lanterns, which are lanterns made of pumpkins cut like a human face. Children dress up as ghosts, witches, vampires and skeletons. They visit their neighbours and ask for candy. This tradition is called trick or treating. Later in the evening, people organize Halloween parties for their neighbours and friends. During the parties they play a lot of games – for example, apple bobbing, where players put their hands behind their back and use their teeth to catch apples placed in a large bowl of water.

Glossary

ancient – starożytny

candy – słodycze

to dress up as… – przebrać się za …

a ghost – duch

to keep sb away – tu: zniechęcić kogoś

a lantern – lampion

the living – żyjący ludzie

to pretend - udawać

a pumpkin – dynia

a skeleton – szkielet

a vampire – wampir

a witch – czarownica

What do you know about Thanksgiving Day in the USA?

On the fourth Thursday in November, in houses around the United States, families get together for a feast, or a large meal. Almost all families eat turkey and cranberry sauce for this meal, and have pumpkin pie for dessert. This feast is part of a very special day, the holiday of Thanksgiving.

 In 1620, the Pilgrims made a difficult trip across the ocean from England. They went to the New World in search of religious freedom. They landed in what is now Massachusetts. The Pilgrims’ first winter was very hard. Almost half the group died of cold, hunger, and disease. But the Native Americans of Massachusetts taught the Pilgrims to plant corn, to hunt, and to fish. When the next fall came, the Pilgrims had plenty of food. They were thankful and had a feast to give thanks. They invited the Native Americans to join them. This was the first Thanksgiving.

The Thanksgiving became a national holiday many years later because of a woman named Sarah Hale. For forty years Sarah Hale wrote to each president and asked for a holiday for Thanksgiving. At last she was successful. In 1863 President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a

holiday.

How much is Thanksgiving today like the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving? In many ways they are different. For example, historians think that the Pilgrims ate deer, not turkey. The idea of Thanksgiving, though, is very much the same: Thanksgiving is a day on which we celebrate and give thanks.

Vocabulary

feast – uczta, święto

cranberry - żurawina

Thanksgiving – Święto Dziękczynienia

The Pilgrims – pielgrzymi (tak nazwano ludzi, którzy przypłynęli do Ameryki statkiem w 1620 r.)

religious freedom – swoboda religijna

hunger - głód

disease - choroba

fall (autumn) - jesień

plenty of - dużo

successful – odnieść sukces

deer - jeleń