Five Fun Easter FactsIt's coming up to Easter! A time for celebration, Easter egg hunts, decorating eggs, reading the Easter story, and generally having a jolly good time! Here's five fun Easter facts to confound your friends! 1. The name Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eastre, who symbolises fertility and the coming of Spring. 2. The UK's first chocolate egg for sale was made by Fry's of Bristol in 1878 - yum! 3. The Guinness Book of Records states that the world's largest Easter Egg was made by Tosca of Italy, and stood 10.39 metres tall, 19.6 metres wide, and weighed 7,200kg. Imagine that big egg rolling down a hill on Easter Sunday! 4. In Poland, Easter dinner is accompanied with a butter lamb - yes, a big mound of butter moulded into the shape of a lamb! And you thought chocolate eggs contained a lot of calories! 5. Each Easter, the sitting US President, takes part in an Easter egg roll on the white house lawn - a tradition started by President Rutherford B Hayes in 1878. Wouldn't it be good to see President Obama do it dressed as a big fluffy rabbit, this year? "Barack the Bunny", anyone? Click the image below for some fab Easter gifts! So there you have it - five fun Easter facts to share with your friends.Have a fantastic Easter weekend!
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St Patrick was Scottish...and other fascinating facts!Are you ready for celebrating St Patrick's Day on March 17th? It's time to dust off your shamrock and get into the party spirit. Whether you're full-bloodied Irish,or just Irish-ish, it's a time for family gatherings and wild celebrations. Here's some fascinating facts about St Patrick, and the day itself, to regale your friends with, and ensure that you are cooler than Finn McCool, and bonnier than the belle of Belfast city, yourself! 1. St Patrick was born in 387 AD in Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland. 2. St Patrick's birth name was Maewyn Succat. 3. He was kidnapped by Irish pirates when he was 14. They enslaved him, forcing him to work as a shepherd, on Slemish mountain in County Antrim. Click Image to buy these fab St Patrick Day gifts at Zazzle! 4. He escaped confinement when he was 20, headed to the coast, stowed away on a boat bound for Scotland, landing not far from his parents home.. 5. Maewyn began training for the priesthood, and when he became a bishop took the name Patricus. He returned to Ireland, spreading the gospel, using the shamrock's trefoil as a teaching aid to represent the Holy Trinity. 6. St Patrick died on the 17th of March 461 AD. He was proclaimed Patron Saint of Ireland in the 7th Century. Click image to buy this fab St Patrick's Day Tee at Zazzle! 7. The first recorded St Patrick’s Day parade was held in 1737 in Boston, USA. 8. Ireland had their first St Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin, in 1931. 9. In 1961, Stephen Bailey, of the Chicago Journeymen Plumber's Local Union, got permission to turn the Chicago River green for St Patrick's Day - a tradition that's been in place since. 10. St Patrick's Day celebrations can be thirsty work! Worldwide daily sales of the leprechaun's favourite tipple, Guiness, soar from their usual 5 million pints to 13 million pints - Slainte!. So there you have it - ten facts about St Patrick's Day, all true!
This St Patrick's Day, raise the roof, kiss a colleen, shake your shillelagh stick at a passing leprechaun, and above all else, may you have the most brilliant time, and be blessed with the 'luck o' the Irish'! It's 'International Women's Day' today. In Scotland we've always had a tradition of strong women in our families, and in the public sphere. All the main parties in the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood have women guiding the way. Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister (SNP), Kezia Dugdale (Labour), Ruth Davidson (Scottish Conservative & Unionist). The Scottish Green Party have Maggie Chapman as co-convener with Patrick Harvie. These women do owe a debt of thanks to the women who came before them, battling the way forward. There's way too many to mention, but off the top of my head, I'm thinking of Ray Michie (Liberal Democrats), Annabelle Goldie (Scottish Conservative), and Margo Macdonald (SNP then Independent). So, as a toast to the lassies, here's a fine tune by Ivor Cutler and sung by Linda Hirst called 'Women Of The World' |
Whit's he up tae noo?The blog posts of David Brodie, a Scottish artist based near Glasgow. Archives
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