Okay, I realize that if you write them yourself, they won’t really be Irish (unless you are) but this is a fun introduction to poetry and a way to think about others while studying a neat aspect of Irish culture.
We began by reading some traditional Irish blessings. We found a bunch over here. Of course, we had to read my favorite:
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Then we set to work. We always send ‘Happy Saint Patrick’s Day’ cards to our relatives, so we broke out the white and green paper, the rubber stamps and ink pads, and some stickers. I let the kids create their cards however they wanted, as long as they wrote a message inside. My Big Helper’s had to contain some kind of blessing.
At first she wanted to copy blessings from the website, but we continued to talk about the format. The neat thing about many Irish blessings, practically speaking, is that they follow a simple pattern. “May you” followed by a good thing. Soon she wanted to write her own.
My Big Helper got creative with this. She really had fun with this assignment, and I think each card will bring a smile when it’s opened.
Have you ever ‘studied’ Irish blessings? What would you include in one?
