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?
This post was shared at I Can Teach My Child.
I haven't really studied Irish blessings, although my heritage is partly Scots-Irish. You've made me want to read them now. I like Big Helper's blessing, thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! We all had fun reading through a variety of traditional Irish blessings and then creating our own. The link above will take you to some. :-)
DeleteI too have always loved the thoughts behind what I consider the Irish Blessing (the one that you shared). I have to say though that your daughter's comes in a close second! I especially enjoy the frige always having food, and your hair always having a bow! She is really creative!
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of how I am working on "switching" my thinking - I no longer complain about the freezer in the basement being full (like when I see something at the store I want, but can't get it because there isn't room in the freezer for it) but instead I say a prayer of thanks that I am blessed enough to have so much food that the freezer is full. Same goes for crowded fridges and pantry shelves!