Feeling a little green today? Don't worry. It's probably just an Irish kind of thing. Green is associated with Ireland, which is known as the Emerald Isle because it's green year round. And this is a special time – around St. Patrick's Day – when thoughts turn to Ireland, shamrocks and leprechauns.

Ireland is an island with almost 2,000 miles of coastline in Western Europe. It’s divided into two parts: the independent Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, a territory of the United Kingdom.

The Republic is about the size of the state of West Virginia and takes up most of the island of Ireland. The people of Ireland speak English, but school children also learn Gaelic, a native language. Big pastimes are hurling, rounders, soccer, swimming and playing the tin whistle, similar to a flute but easier to learn to play.

The Emerald Isle - this is what people call Ireland because of the green of the lovely countryside,the colour or emeralds . Two millions tourists visit this beautiful island every year. They come to see places they have heard about in Irish songs and stories .

The Irish have always loved to sing and tell stories. one well-known story is about the Blarney Stone. When someone starts to say a lot of flattering things , an Irishman will tell him that he has probably kissed the Blarney Stone. A person who kisses this stone is good at flattering people . Of course , visitors want to see the stone , although it is very hard to reach , high up on the wall of old Blarney Castle.


        
Then there are the stories about leprechauns, little old men who have hidden away a treasure of gold. You can get this treasure , but you must first frighten the leprechauns , and this is not easy to do.

There is one very old story that may even be true. The story is about St. Brendan who sailed west across the Atlantic in a small leather boat and found a new land. This was in the 6th century - four hundred years before Vikings ! St. Brendanwas away for seven years and had many adventures : there were storms, strange sea creatures, and at one point a whale even picked up his small boat . Finally he reached a beautiful island somewhere to the west. was this North America ?
        

Many years ago Timothy Severin decided to find out. First he built a leather boat like St. Brendan's . Then he chose his crew. In May 1976 they left Ireland, and two months later after storms, ice and many other dangers they were in Iceland. The next year in May they sailed on ,and on evening of June 26, 1977 they reached Newfoundland. St. Brendan's voyage in his small leather boat was possible !


        

WHO WAS SAINT PATRICK ?

The first amazing fact about St. Patrick was that he wasn’t Irish and his name wasn’t even Patrick!
When he was born in ancient Britain, his name was Maewyn Succat. When he was 16, he was kidnapped by pirates, taken across the sea to Ireland and sold as a slave. Patrick escaped after six years and went to a monastery to become a Roman Catholic priest. When Patrick was about 60 years old, he returned to Ireland as a missionary and became the country's second bishop. St. Patrick established schools, churches and monasteries throughout Ireland.

St. Patrick is surrounded by legends. A popular one is that he gave a sermon so powerful that he drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Since no snakes are native to Ireland, it probably symbolizes the pagans who either converted to Christianity or were run out of Ireland. Patrick used the three-leafed shamrocks to explain certain church teachings. The shamrock became the symbol of St. Patrick's Day.