St Patrick’s Day
On Friday 15th March we celebrated St Patrick’s Day. Here at our North London Prep School in Enfield, we turned green for the day!
At lunchtime, Chef Mitchell prepared us special green cakes for us to enjoy for desert and our dining hall was transformed with shamrocks and flags.
In the afternoon, we enjoyed the festive atmosphere, traditional Irish music, Irish Dancing, delicious cakes and of course wearing green. We learnt all about St Patrick and why he is celebrated today. St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity’s most widely known figures. But for all of his prevalence in culture—namely the holiday held on the day of his death that bears his name—his life remains somewhat of a mystery. At the age of 16, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family’s estate. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity. After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, a voice—which he believed to be God’s—spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland. After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a dual mission: to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish.
Many of the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are false, the products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling.
Some of our Irish children shared parts of their Irish culture and showed us their Irish Dancing. We learnt about the Irish sports, Hurling and Gaelic Football. In Gaelic Football you can pick up the ball and instead of dribbling you have to either bounce or kick the ball to move. A hurley stick looks a bit like a hockey stick but you don’t need to keep it near the floor. It is a very fast moving sport and you have to wear a helmet! Our resident Irish dancer, wowed us with her moves. She performed two dances one with soft shoes and the other with heavy shoes. She inspired lots of future dancers as many children were seen hopping, jumping and skipping around whilst leaving school.
We were delighted to have some musicians entertain us with traditional Irish music. Thomas played the guitar and sang for us and James accompanied him by playing the fiddle. At the end we all had a dance, ate Tayto crisps, Irish biscuits and enjoyed some specially made cupcakes by Mrs Kyraciou@marinaliciouscakes.
Thank you to the PFA and our Irish community for organising this wonderful event.
Check out our social media pages for more information and some live action of the event.
