St. Patricks Day!

Yesterday my four year old asked me what St. Patricks day is.  I tried to tell him the truth, but realized I didn't know.  I'm not Catholic or Irish, but as I talked my little Noah shook his head and added details and it compelled me to continue telling the story I didn't know.  I was feeling a little guilty about making up a story but as we got deeper into the tale I decided, for us, it didn't really matter.  Together we were putting together our own interpretation of the holiday and it went something like this:

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Patrick who lived in Wales.  That is where your great great great grandparents came from.  Patrick loved to go to church with his Daddy.  His daddy was a teacher at the church, just like your Nana.  His daddy taught people about Jesus and being good.  One day some bad men stole him and took him far away in a boat.  His parents were very sad, they looked everywhere for Patrick but could not find him.  Patrick was sad too, because he missed his mommy and daddy.

Now do you think that Santa or the Easter Bunny brought presents to those bad men.  NO of course not, so these men decided to go to Ireland because that is where Leprechauns live.  What are Leprechauns?  They are mischievous drunken elves that like to get into trouble.  They are magical little men that never grow any taller then this trash can and always wear green.  They play tricks on people and they especially like to trick bad boys and girls. Now those bad men knew that if they could catch a Leprechaun, the Leprechaun would have to give him a big pot of Gold.  Gold is like money and since they weren't getting presents for being good they thought they could steal it from the Leprechauns by being bad.  These men weren't happy with one pot of gold they kept taking more and more, soon the Leprechauns were afraid they would run out of money.

The bad men made Patrick their slave.  Since Patrick was a little boy they made him dress up in green so that the Leprechauns might think he was a Leprechaun too.  Patrick didn't want to fool the Leprechauns but if he didn't wear green the mean men would pinch him, so he wore green everyday.  On St. Patrick's day we all wear green to remember St. Patrick.  If someone doesn't wear green they might get pinched but just softly to remind them how lucky they are, that they have not be kidnapped.

Patrick was a slave for many years and grew up tall and brave.  He got so big he couldn't fool the leprechauns anymore so he had to learn ways to hunt leprechauns.  One way is to follow the rainbow, another way is to look for a paths of four-leafed-clovers.  These clovers are tricky because they are hidden in patches of shamrocks.  It makes the clovers very hard to find.  One day while picking the shamrocks Patrick remembered what his daddy taught the people at church.   He stopped hunting for Leprechauns and sat down to teach the bad men about his church and all he knew about Jesus, and God, and the Holy Ghost and also how to be a good person.  When he was done the men decided to be good and stop hunting for leprechaun gold.  They also promised not to steal anymore Welsh children.  Some leprechauns hiding close by heard this  news and were so excited they jumped out to give St. Patrick a big hug, when he caught them in his arms they were forced to give him a pot of gold.  Once a year to celebrate their freedom from those bad men the Leprechauns come out to play tricks and leave treats for good boys, who like St. Patrick have the ability to make mean people see the world differently and turn bad situations into good ones.