Feature: St. Patrick's Day Traditions

by Sloane H.

We all know the livelihood of holidays, they bring joy, spirit, but best of all, tradition! Most people often push certain holidays to the side, not knowing their history, how they formed, or how their traditions changed. St. Patrick’s Day is a great example, since most, if not all, people just throw away all the story behind it. In fact, you could ask anyone you know about St. Patrick’s day and they’ll probably sum it up to just “you wear green. If you don’t, you get pinched, punched, hit, etc. Oh, and there’s a leprechaun or something” that's kind of it, at least that’s what most people think it’s about.

But hold up, maybe it wasn’t always “just all that,” there could have been more. Let’s go back a few decades, to the 17th century: St. Patrick's Day was more of an annual feast than anything else. Christians of the time would get together to bestow the well-known priest, Saint Patrick. Although he wasn’t much of a saint.

The holiday gets a lot of hate for the law of drinking being lifted. It reinforces stereotypes about Irish people and those who are part of their culture, even though this holiday is celebrated in more countries than any other national festival. The present-day celebrations have been widely influenced by people from the Irish diaspora, especially in North America. But in the last few years, it gained more popularity in the diaspora than in Ireland.

Before it gained popularity, Ireland in the 1700s considered 3 a significant number. Painters and writers symbolized shamrocks as their theme for the holiday to justify the number 3 in it to make it more popular, though the plant was not sacred.

The color green has always been associated with Ireland since 1640, when the green harp flag was adopted. When shamrocks also came to mean green, and over time, it became almost a necessity to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day.

This unpopular holiday has evolved. It taught us about Ireland's history and culture. There are many small but popular traditions, too, like picking shamrocks to find four-leaf clovers, going to church, and, of course, wearing shades of green. It also reminds us of our journey through March as a fun, nature-filled month.

Saint Patrick's Day Myths!

by Cate H.

St. Patrick's Day is a celebration and a lot of fun. But along with that fun, some myths or fables started this holiday. I will dig into busting myths today, explaining how they happened and how they appeared on the day of green.

This first holiday was invented in Ireland, where the myth is that Saint Patrick got rid of all the snakes, so the holiday was invented to celebrate. Now, when you think of Saint Patrick’s day, you think of leprechauns and a pot of gold, right? Well, turns out this idea originated in the 18th century in Celtic folklore, where they believed it was linked to the Vikings.

One more thing, when you think of the national color of Saint Patrick’s day, you think it was green back then, too, right? Wrong! Well, turns out Saint Patrick never wore green. He always wore Blue! The color green was actually just popular at that time because of its association with the nationality.

Another thing, nevertheless, everyone thinks that Saint Patrick’s first parade was in Ireland, right? I mean, it would make sense, but it was actually in New York City in the 18th century, held by Irish soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Moving on to another popular myth about shamrocks and the trinity. Well, in the lore of how this holiday started, we have to go back when Saint Patrick was alive, and well, the lore suggests that Saint Patrick used a shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity. The reason it is not the myths is that there is NO textual evidence of him doing that, nor of anything else.

Fun Facts about Albert Einstein

by Sydney S.

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, and I’m just going to say what we were all thinking: Happy birthday, Albert Einstein! Want to know some amazing and jaw-dropping facts about him? I’ll take your silence as a yes!

Did you know that Albert Einstein was almost the second president of Israel? They offered him the position, but he told them he had “neither the natural ability nor the experience to deal with human beings.”

Albert Einstein also HATED school! He didn’t like the rules, and one of his teachers once told him, “he wouldn’t amount to anything.”

Einstein hated socks, too! He barely ever wore them, even to fancy dinners. He believed socks were a nuisance because they always had holes!

He didn’t start talking until he was three years old. People began to think he was slow because it took him so long. He even repeated sentences until he was seven.

Einstein believed that knowledge isn’t as important as imagination. Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”

Albert Einstein also loved animals. He had a tabby cat named Tiger and a dog named Chico. Einstein once said, “There are two means of refuge from the misery of life: music and cats.” At one point, he also had a parrot named Bibo. People reported that he used to tell Bibo bad jokes to cheer the parrot up!

Einstein co-invented the refrigerator! He worked with his student Leo Szilard to invent an eco-friendly refrigerator, aiming to avoid the toxic gases found in earlier models.

Well, those were some awesome facts! I hope you had fun learning about Albert Einstein! See you later!

March Secret Staff Member

story by??? (author will be revealed when the Staff Member is revealed)

A staff member was asked a few questions, just like last month, but with slight variations. Time for a refresh, here are the rules: you're allowed to ask all and any of your teachers questions to see if they match up to our secret staff member.

Our staff members' favorite food is pizza, specifically Pizza Ranch Sweet Swine with barbecue sauce, not marinara. They graduated from the Pocahontas area in Iowa.

They have more than one sibling. Their favorite color is pink, and their favorite shape is a crescent. They have one pet, and their favorite person to work with is Mrs. Todd.

Their favorite movie is Olaf's Frozen Adventure. Their favorite soda is Dr. Pepper, and they've worked here at YMS for 3 years.

Here are your hints for this month's secret staff member. Good luck. Remember that this could be any staff member throughout YMS. Just like last time, ask a few questions to find what you're looking for. Good luck!

Click this link when you are ready to submit your guess!      

Wayne State Band Competition

By Saige N.


Tomorrow, the YMS band will compete at Wayne State University. At this competition, the band will play Ancient Flower and La Fiesta Brava. They will not be playing English Folksong Suite or Three Scottish Vistas. The Jazz band, separate from the regular band, will also play a few songs. Last year, the jazz band did very well and got to be on the front of the website this year. At Wayne, the band will play songs, listen to songs, and eat a lot of food. The food will be amazing. They will be gone all day. Have fun and do good, band!!

February Secret Staff Member Revealed!

 

Our next Secret Staff Member story will post Wednesday morning! 

8th Graders Register for YHS Classes

by Josie A. 

I interviewed Mariah T. and Lilly D. to ask them how they felt about high school registration. I asked them three questions: What feeling did you have during registration? Are you excited for high school? What are some of the classes you signed up for?

First, Mariah’s answers. She said she was “nervous but eager to sign up!” For the second question, she said she is excited for high school because there will be new teachers and new things to try, but she is also nervous that she will feel lost for the first few days. For the last question, a few of the cases she signed up for are Algebra I, English I, Finish Carpentry, and Choir.


Next, we have Lilly’s answers. For the first question, she was “scared because there were so many classes and it was intimidating.” She was also happy to see how many choices there were and to find out what was best for her! Next, she said yes because she can’t wait to experience things with her friends and make new friends. Finally, she signed up for Honors English, Algebra I, and Art.

Thank you for reading this! Hope everyone else's registration went well!