Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents. He was captured by Irish men who raided his family's estate and held in captivity in Ireland. Six years passed before he escaped and returned to Britain.

After returning to his homeland, he had a dream in which an angel told him to return to Ireland to minister to Christians there and to convert others to Christianity. St. Patrick studied for 15 years and then returned.

He incorporated traditional Irish beliefs and symbols with Christianity to make his religion more appealing to the Irish.

Contrary to popular belief, St. Patrick neither introduced Christianity to the island nor drove the snakes from Ireland.

St. Patrick died on March 17th around the year 460 A.D. The Irish people are known for remembering history through story telling, and tales of St. Patrick's life and times became exaggerated through the years.

Today we observe St. Patrick's Day here in America with parades, shamrocks and all things green.

It's fun to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with kids. They're fascinated with holidays and will appreciate any efforts to make the day special.

Of course, the simplest way to observe the day is the wearing o' the green. Wear any green clothing you may have (even if it's a Green Bay Packers jersey) and dress the kids in the color of the Emerald Isle as well. A recent look at Target's $1 aisle revealed green beaded necklaces, hats, and shamrock design socks. Green fabric ribbon or curling ribbon or yarn in your little girl's ponytail can also help bring a festive feel to the day.

It's fun and easy to make special St. Patrick's Day food. You could research some traditional Irish recipes and try them on your family, but it's doubtful your kids would appreciate your culinary efforts. (A customary St. Patrick's Day meal consists of Irish bacon and cabbage.) A bottle of green food coloring can help you produce green milk, green pancakes, green frosting, green mashed potatoes and many other green foods. Just add the food coloring to your food or drink until the desired results are achieved. Don't worry - no matter how weird the food looks, food coloring won't change the taste of the food.

You can produce a little Irish magic by adding a drop of blue food coloring to a vanilla pudding cup. Have your child stir the food coloring into the pudding to produce a special green St. Patrick's Day treat. If you're feeling really ambitious, find a picture of a color wheel on the internet and give a short lesson about the primary colors and how they can be mixed to produce the secondary colors.

Here are some fun picture books to read on St. Patrick's Day:

St. Patrick's Day is a picture book by Gail Gibbons. Gail Gibbons is a children's writer who has produced many books about science and social studies topics.

Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie DePaola is a cute story about an Irishman who didn't like to work and found a way to ensure he would be supplied with potatoes to eat for the rest of his life.

They say everyone is Irish on St. Patty's Day and it's easy to join in on the fun!

Source: http://www.history.com/content/stpatricksday/who-was-st.-patrick