St Patrick's Day Let's Celebrate

# Yeah, great to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Yeah, great to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate. #

I'm down here. Welcome to number 22. I'm Thomas Ticker.

And I love all kinds of parties and celebrations.

In the festival I've got to show you today

you're going to see rather a lot of one particular colour.

It's not blue.

And it's not yellow.

It's...

..green! Ha-ha-ha!

The festival is called Saint Patrick's Day.

And Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland.

It's a fantastic party.

And I've got two friends who are going to tell us all about it.

-Hi, I'm Aidine.

-And I'm Orla.

And we're going to be celebrating Saint Patrick's Day!

We live in Downpatrick in Northern Ireland

where a very special man used to live a long time ago.

He's called Saint Patrick.

Tomorrow we're celebrating his life because it's Saint Patrick's Day.

Saint Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland.

There are stories about him chasing all the snakes out of Ireland too.

He's also said to be buried here in Downpatrick.

Tomorrow morning, lots of people will walk to Downpatrick Cathedral.

And they will remember Saint Patrick

and flowers will be laid on his grave here.

Then there will be a big parade.

And all these empty streets will be SO busy.

It's the best day of the whole year for Downpatrick.

We better go and get ready!

It's the day before Saint Patrick's Day

and our school has turned all green.

THEY CHEER

Green is the national colour of Ireland

and we wear it a lot at this time of the year.

I've got green hair today!

We're making hats for Saint Patrick's Day.

In Ireland we have lots of fairytales and stories.

There is a story about a leprechaun, a little Irish fairy,

who was said to be found at the end of the rainbow

with his pot of gold.

So, we're decorating our hats with rainbows and pots of gold.

I'm also making a hat for my cousin, Callum

who's coming to the parade tomorrow.

Beautiful!

Gorgeous!

There you go, wee princess.

This is the shamrock plant

and we're making a giant shamrock to put on the wall.

The shamrock is often known as the symbol of Ireland.

And lots of people wear it on their clothes on Saint Patrick's Day.

Now our shamrock's all cut out, it's time to put glitter on it.

At school today we have a concert.

And we have to decorate the school hall for it.

It's nearly time for our concert

so we better go and put this on the wall.

There. Our wall's decorated and we're all ready for the concert.

THEY CHEER

There's my mummy and granny coming in now.

The audience is waiting for the concert to start.

Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now have Aidine from primary three

who's going to recite an old Irish blessing for us.

An Irish Blessing.

Always remember to forget the things that made you sad

but never forget to remember the things that made you glad.

Always remember to forget the troubles that passed away

but never forget to remember the blessings that come each day.

This is traditional Irish dancing.

That's my teacher dancing!

Those little instruments are called tin whistles.

It started to get really exciting now.

It feels like a party.

Even the mummies are joining in.

Everyone's having such a good time.

We're all in the spirit for Saint Patrick's Day tomorrow now.

Make sure you all come and join in our celebration at the big parade.

Wow! That looked like the best school assembly ever!

And what colour was everyone wearing? Green!

It was green everywhere.

You know, not much is known about Saint Patrick.

There are lots of stories about him.

Would you like to hear one?

# Celebrate! #

Long, long ago somewhere in England or maybe Scotland

or maybe even Wales - no-one's sure because it was a very long time ago -

lived a young boy called Patrick.

Patrick lived a very normal life.

Until, one day, he was stolen by Irish raiders.

They bundled him on a boat and took him away to Ireland.

There he was made to work as a shepherd

for years and years and years.

During those years, Patrick felt lonely.

So he turned to God and prayed up to 100 times a day.

One night, he had a dream where an angel appeared and told him

to look for a little boat that would take him away from Ireland.

He walked for many days and nights

and eventually came across a harbour

where, guess what?

There was a little boat.

Patrick was delighted and persuaded the captain to take him onboard

and off they sailed back to England.

For many years, Patrick studied to become a bishop,

learning more and more about God.

Then, one night, he had a dream

where the angel appeared to him again.

The angel showed him a letter from the people of Ireland

asking Patrick to go back to them.

So, back to Ireland, Patrick went to tell everyone about God.

He did some truly amazing things too.

Some people say he even made all the snakes leave Ireland.

# It's great to celebrate! #

Wow, what an adventurous life Saint Patrick had!

But do you remember what Aidine had made

for her cousin's hat?

A rainbow!

Ha-ha!

Well, I can't wait to see the Saint Patrick's Day parade.

There's going to be loads of people and a lot of the colour green!

Let's see.

My auntie and cousin are waiting for us in Downpatrick.

I can't wait to give my cousin Callum this hat I made for him.

We're on our way to the Saint Patrick's Day parade now.

The train is here. Come on, everyone!

It's a big family day out with my daddy, mummy, brother and granny.

And, of course, my best friend Orla too.

The train set off.

There's lots of steam.

I'm really excited for the parade.

I can see Downpatrick Cathedral from here.

We're nearly there now.

I can see my auntie and cousin!

Hello.

Orla, look at Callum!

Come on! It's time to get to the parade.

There's lots going on in Downpatrick already.

And thousands of people are gathering round for the parade.

It's starting to get very busy.

But we've just got some time for lunch before the parade begins.

We're having Irish stew to warm our tummies before we go to the parade.

This Irish stew is really yummy

and it's got potatoes and meat and carrots in it.

Granny loves the stew too.

The parade is about to begin.

Can you see the parade coming?

Look, Mummy, Saint Patrick's coming towards us!

Wow, they are big dogs!

Look at that man on stilts!

Wooo!

There's lots of green.

Oh, look what's coming!

Look at those costumes!

Wow!

Look at those big, colourful feathers.

Yay!

This is so much fun!

Look, Granny, look!

That was so colourful!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

BOTH: It's great to celebrate!

# Celebrate! #

Wow, that parade looked wonderful!

So colourful, so many people.

I wish I was there.

But never mind, I've got a street party of my own to go to.

You coming?

# Yeah, great to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Yeah, great to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Yeah, great to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Great to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# We're so exciting cos it's going to be

# A party time for all our friends and family

# We're getting ready We'll have so much fun

# So come and join in, everyone

-# Cos it's time for us to celebrate

-It's great to celebrate

-# Now it's time for us to celebrate

-It's great to celebrate

-# Cos today is such a special day

-It's great to celebrate

# It's time for you and me to celebrate

# So jump to your feet and dance with us

# Clap your hands and cheer

-# Cos it's time for us to celebrate

-It's great to celebrate

-# Now it's time for us to celebrate

-It's great to celebrate

-# Cos today is such a special day

-It's great to celebrate

# It's time for you and me to celebrate

# To celebrate

-# It's time for us to celebrate

-It's great to celebrate

-# It's time for you and me

-It's great to celebrate

-# It's great to celebrate

-To celebrate. #