Questões de Concurso

SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

Saint Patrick's Day, also known as The Feast of Saint Patrick, is a traditional holiday celebrated every year on March 17th, the day the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick, died.

Patrick, who was born in the fourth century, lived in the British Isles, a land that had been invaded and conquered first by the Romans and then by Germanic tribes. At the age of 16, Patrick was captured and taken as a slave from the British Isles to what is now Ireland. He lived there for several years herding sheep. He was a religious boy, and he prayed that he would someday return to his homeland.

Legend has it that one night while he was praying, a voice told him to escape from the farm, and find a ship that was waiting for him in a harbor two hundred miles aways. Patrick got to the ship, sailed to Europe, and disembarked in what is now probably France. He ---1--- several of the ship's crew through a dangerous forest, praying all the time. Neither Patrick nor any member of his crew was captured. When some of the men were about to die of starvation, wild animals appeared to them to eat. Events such as these appeared to be miracles and gave rise to later legends surrounding Patrick.

Finally finding his way home, Patrick felt that he was called by God to perform an important mission. He believed it was his duty to go back to Ireland and convert the Celtic people to the Christian Religion.

Patrick arrived in England and became a missionary, traveling from village to village and talking about his faith. Once, several members of a tribe approached Patrick and told him that they found it difficult to understand and believe in the Holy Trinity. Patrick thought a moment, then stooped down and picked one of the plentiful shamrocks growing wild around Ireland. “Here are three leaves", he said, “yet it is one plant. Imagine the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit as each of these leaves. Here they are, yet they are one plant." The tribesmen understood, because Patrick had used a familiar object to explain. From that time on, the shamrock has been a revered symbol of Ireland.

There are lots of stories about Patrick. One of them is about him forcing snakes out of the entire country of Ireland. Even though there are many different stories about how he accomplished such a task, it is probably not true. Patrick died on March 17th, and the Irish people set aside the day to mourn. He became the patron saint of Ireland. Mourning turned to commemorating him and celebrating his life.

Because of Saint Patrick, lots of cities around the world with a large population of Irish have parades. Green is one of the national colors of Ireland. Green stripes are painted on the streets where the parade will travel. People wear green shirts, ties, hair ribbons, and hats. There are even pubs which serve green beer on that day.

Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian holiday in the early seventeenth century. It is now observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. Not only that, but it also celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general.

Source: adapted from http://www.inglesnapontadalingua.com.br/2014/03

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Cultural diversity and cultural identity in globalization

From Nail bars to car washes: how big

is the UK’s slavery problem?

by Annie Kelly

Does slavery exist in the UK?

More than 250 years since the end of the transatlantic slave trade, there are close to 41 million people still trapped in some form of slavery across the world today. Yet nobody really knows the scale and how many victims or perpetrators of this crime there are in Britain.

The data that has been released is inconsistent. The government believes there are about 13,000 victims of slavery in the UK, while earlier this year the Global Slavery Index released a much higher estimate of 136,000.

Statistics on slavery from the National Crime Agency note the number of people passed on to the government’s national referral mechanism (NRM), the process by which victims of slavery are identified and granted statutory support. While this data gives a good snapshot of what kinds of slavery are most prevalent and who is falling victim to exploiters, it doesn’t paint the whole picture. For every victim identified by the police, there will be many others who are not found and remain under the control of traffickers, pimps and gangmasters.

There are also many potential victims who don’t agree to go through the mechanism because they don’t trust the authorities, or are too scared to report their traffickers. Between 1 November 2015 and 30 June 2018, the government received notifications of 3,306 potential victims of modern slavery in England and Wales who were not referred to the NRM.

[…]

The police recorded 3,773 modern slavery offences between June 2017 and June 2018.

[…]

(Source: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/ oct/18/nail-bars-car-washes-uk-slavery-problem-anti-slavery-day. Access: 20/10/2018)