We don't usually go for colouring pages, but we did this week, and as the girls arrived they were given an image of a shamrock (or trefoil...) done in celtic knotwork. The image we used was downloaded from www.donteatthepaste.com/2013/03/knotted-shamrock-to-color-or-embroider.html
We opened with our usual horseshoe and then had an active game led by the Active Living Patrol for the evening.
Our program started off with a short discussion about Ireland - starting with what the girls knew (to quote one Guide: "three words: rainbow, leprechaun, gold"), covering some short facts and some information about the life of St Patrick.Guiding in Ireland started in 1911. Today, there are two Irish Guiding Associations - the Catholic Guides of Ireland (CGI) and the Irish Girl Guides (IGG) (Girlguiding UK is also active in Ulster). We talked about the different age groups, uniforms, and passed around enrolment pins for the girls to look at.
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| IGG Brownie Guide (age 7-10) |
IGG Guide (age 10-14) |
CGI Brigin Guide (age 6/7-10/11) |
CGI Guide (age 10/11-17) |
Find out more about Guiding:
Catholic Guides of Ireland - www.girlguidesireland.ie/
Irish Girl Guides - www.irishgirlguides.ie/
Girlguiding UK-Ulster - www.girlguidingulster.org.uk/
The first legend of the night was "Finn's Hounds". This is the story of Finn and his half-sister Tuiren. Tuiren marries a man who has previously made promises to another woman, Uchtdealb. Uchtdealb turns a pregnant Tuiren into a dog and gives her to someone she believes will be a harsh master. Even as a dog, Tuiren wins over her new family and gives birth to two puppies. Eventually, Tuiren is restored to her human form, but her children remain puppies. They return to live with Finn and the puppies become his companions.
Download this legend at www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/1Kids/FinnsHounds.html
After all this sitting, we played a game enjoyed by Guides in Ireland called "GRABBIT".
Guides line up in Patrols and number off 1 - 6. One extra Guide is needed to be ‘Grabbit’. To start the game the Leader calls out a number, plus ‘Grabbit’. All Guides with that number, plus ‘Grabbit’ run to the opposite end of the room, touch the wall and run back to their places. ‘Grabbit’ must try and grab a place in one of the patrol lines by beating the Guides who occupied it. If she manages to do this, the Guide whose place has been taken becomes ‘Grabbit’.
The remainder of the meeting was spent on two activities. The first was a craft were the girls attempted to tie a celtic heart knot. (This was not very successful as the instructions were difficult to follow. It might have been easier with thicker cord as opposed to gimp.) The other activities was dramatization of legends by each Patrol.
The Trillium's had the legend of the "Little Red Bird". This legend tells how the cardinal became red.
Download this legend at www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/1Kids/LittleRedBird.html
The Pansy's had the legend of "St Brendan's Adventures". This is the story of St Brendan and the adventures he has while sailing across the ocean and visiting different lands. (As a geographer, this is a personal favourite of mine!)
Download this legend at www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/1Kids/StBrendan.html
The Roses had the a legend called "The King Has...?". This is the story of King Breas and the lengths he goes to in order to hide his secret - including imprisoning all of his barbers!
Download this legend at www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/1Kids/Kinghas.html (as we ran out of time, this Patrol will present their skit at the beginning of next week's meeting).
We closed with reminders for next week and Taps.
