Galway City Museum has developed some information and activity sheets for children on the theme of St Patrick and his feast day.
Maewyn Succat – better known as St Patrick – was born in Britain in the fifth century to a family of well-to-do Romanised Celts. He first came to Ireland as a slave, but escaped and later returned as a Christian missionary. Patrick is the national saint of Ireland (and Nigeria) and, apart from St Nicholas (Santa Claus), is possibly the best known saint in the world.
Two of the best known legends about St Patrick are that he used shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish and that he banished snakes from the island.
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Irish children wore special homemade badges called St Patrick’s Crosses on his feast day, 17 March. The custom gradually died out, but our friends at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life have some wonderful examples in their collections. Using these badges as inspiration, Galway City Museum explains how to make your very own St Patrick’s Cross (no. 3 below).
Activity Sheets
02 St Patrick’s Day Traditions
03 Making a St Patrick’s Cross
04 St Patrick in the Schools’ Collection
Bain taitneamh as!
