Today is St Bridgets Day and it is also Chinese New Year.
St Bridget
There are some historical facts about St Bridget some of the facts are rooted in pagan folklore. Bridget shares her name with a Celtic goddess. She is patroness of many things, including poetry, learning, healing, protection, blacksmithing, livestock and dairy production. Brigid's feast day is 1 February, which was originally a festival called Imbolc. Imbolc’ literally means "in the belly" in the old Irish Neolithic language.This day marks the beginning of spring. In agriculture, it marks the start of the lambing season. When Newgrange was excavated archaeologists could tell by looking at the tomb that the day of Imbolc was important to the Neolithic farming community that built these structures. That means the tradition of Imbolc is some 5,000 years old. From 2023 it will be a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, the first named after a woman. One of the most common traditions of the day is to make a Saint Brigid's Cross.
Chinese New Year
To celebrate the New Year our students with Chinese Heritage came together. They had an important job to do giving out red envelopes. Some of our students and teachers received red envelopes for Chinese New Year. Two lucky students who were in school early this morning received a red envelope. Also the youngest student and youngest member of staff received a red envelope. Our heritage students went to visit some classes and gave red envelopes to some lucky students. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!