Millions of people around the world celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, on the 17th of March, every year – but what is it and who was Patrick? It is a celebration of Irish history and culture, and is a national holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Who was Saint Patrick?
Saint Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland and is celebrated for bringing Christianity to the country.
He is thought to have grown up in Wales, during Roman times, but was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave. Once he was free again, he became a priest, and went back to Ireland to convert thousands of people to Christianity. He is credited with teaching the people of Ireland about Christianity using the three-leafed shamrock which represented God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit – and it is claimed he banished all snakes from Ireland too!
The Celebration
Whilst Saint Patrick’s Day started as a religious feast to celebrate Saint Patrick’s work, it’s grown to be an international festival of all things Irish. People take part in parades and Irish dancing, eat Irish food including official national dish Irish stew served with its unofficial one – a big plate of mashed potatoes! and enjoy Irish music, singing, story-telling and poetry.
The day is also famous for people wearing shamrocks, dressing up as bearded Irish fairies called leprechauns (although not all Irish people like this association), and wearing either all green or their county’s Gaelic football or hurling (an Irish sport which feels like a mix between rugby, hockey and lacrosse – & officially the world’s fastest land sport!) jersey! Why not find out more about Ireland, Northern Ireland and irish culture in Nottingham on this St Patrick’s day?!
Lá Fhéile Pádraig Shona daoibh – Happy Saint Patrick’s Day
Millions of people around the world celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, on the 17th of March, every year – but what is it and who was Patrick? It is a celebration of Irish history and culture, and is a national holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Who was Saint Patrick?
Saint Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland and is celebrated for bringing Christianity to the country.
He is thought to have grown up in Wales, during Roman times, but was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave. Once he was free again, he became a priest, and went back to Ireland to convert thousands of people to Christianity. He is credited with teaching the people of Ireland about Christianity using the three-leafed shamrock which represented God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit – and it is claimed he banished all snakes from Ireland too!
The Celebration
Whilst Saint Patrick’s Day started as a religious feast to celebrate Saint Patrick’s work, it’s grown to be an international festival of all things Irish. People take part in parades and Irish dancing, eat Irish food including official national dish Irish stew served with its unofficial one – a big plate of mashed potatoes! and enjoy Irish music, singing, story-telling and poetry.
The day is also famous for people wearing shamrocks, dressing up as bearded Irish fairies called leprechauns (although not all Irish people like this association), and wearing either all green or their county’s Gaelic football or hurling (an Irish sport which feels like a mix between rugby, hockey and lacrosse – & officially the world’s fastest land sport!) jersey! Why not find out more about Ireland, Northern Ireland and irish culture in Nottingham on this St Patrick’s day?!
Lá Fhéile Pádraig Shona daoibh – Happy Saint Patrick’s Day
British Science Week is a celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths with thousands of events and activities organized in schools, in communities and by a whole host of cultural organizations, businesses and other venues. There are already almost 2,000 events registered already, taking place up and down the UK, from Cornwall to the north coast of Scotland including Science in the Park at Wollaton Hall on Saturday 18th March!
British Science Week also tries to make these brilliant local events bigger, louder and nationally supported by organizing a number of high profile events and activities with key partners – both nationally and regionally – that help us reach more people, and generate more publicity, social and digital media coverage.
How to get involved…
As ever, there are lots of ways to participate during the week for non-school audiences. In particular, there are three things we’d like you to do this year…
1. Get penguin spotting!Each year we promote a special citizen science activity for people to get involved with. This year we’re once again partnering with Zooniverse and our chosen project is penguin watch.
2. Try some marvellous experiments!This year, we’ve partnered with Puffin UK to celebrate the publication of a new edition of Roald Dahl’s iconic tale, George’s Marvellous Medicine and a special companion book, George’s Marvellous Experiments. We’re excited because we think this won’t just help to inspire budding young scientists but, it will also help us to reach budding young book readers who might not have previously considered themselves scientists.
3. Put your trainers on! Run the Solar System is both a virtual 10k race, built by Six to Start, the team behind ‘Zombie’s Run!’, that can be run anywhere in the world at any time during the Week. And you can use this as part of your Sheriff’s Challenge! Do download the App, which is available here.
4. Go to Science in the Park! It’s free, it’s fun, and it’s a chance to see some of the most exciting science, technology, engineering and maths the city has to offer. There’s a whole host of exhibitors coming to amaze the public about things as small as microbes and as big as planets – and everything in-between. You can watch dancing robots, test your reaction speeds, make your own bacteria and much MUCH more. Just come along, wonder round the beautiful house and gardens of Wollaton Hall, and chose which stalls to stop at depending on what interests you most (or try to visit them all!). For more info, click here.
