Guatemala - gorgeous birds, bird brooches and bracelets

The flag of Guatemala features a blue sky to the let and right and in the middle a bird. The name of the country means place of trees.

The two big bird countries for colourful birds are Costa Rica and Guatemala. Guatemala is in central America. The capital is Guatemala City.

At the World Travel market in London November 2024 the Americas and Central America region featured gifts from Guatemala 

Bird Brooches

Angela Lansbury wearing Guatemala bird safety pin brooches. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Tiny painted models of birds on small gold colour safety pins were laid out for you to pick and choose your favourite colour.

Woven Bracelets

Bracelets made of coloured thread came on a card with instructions. Handy for those learning Spanish because the instructions were in English and Spanish. Tie the threads at one end through the loop. Two wishes for you. The third is what the Guatemalan tourist board wishes you - a trip to Guatemala! I found them online listed as woven cotton friendship bracelets, Fairtrade. 

Good Luck

In a tiny colourful bag  were thumbnail length little dolls like painted bits of toothpicks. Each bag contains four.

You are supposed to tell the dolls your troubles at bedtime, then put the dolls under your pillow. When you wake in the morning, your troubles will have gone away. An amusing mixture of ancient myth and modern self-hypnosis or auto-suggestion.

Three good things from Guatemala.

Go to Guatemala, or if you are in the travel business, to the Guatemala stand at the World Travel Market in London next year, or look online for woven bracelets from ebay, etsy and Temu.

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St Patrick's Day green dress

 

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

I decided to wear green and orange for online meetings all through the month of March to celebrate St Patrick's day.  

The Flag of Eire

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. His day fell on a Sunday this year, which is a great day since you can celebrate all day at the weekend.  But in the USA they start serving green drinks at pubs near universities before St Patrick's Day. 

I posed questions about St Patrick's Day at Toastmasters clubs in the UK and online to Asia. Many people in India have not heard of it, so I had a chance to enlighten them.

Green Colour

Why green? Ireland is known as the emerald Isle. The countryside is green. The same as other parts of the UK, notably Scotland, the lake district of England, where the water falling from the Westerlies, westerly winds, creates lakes.

St Patrick

St Patrick supposedly travelled from the mainland UK to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity. Now in Eire the majority are Roman Catholic, with the pope in the Vatican as the head of their church.

Snakes In Ireland

So the, story goes, had miraculous powers. He exterminated all the snakes in Ireland. Whilst it is true that there are no snakes in Ireland, and have been none since his time, researchers found that there were no snakes in Ireland earlier either. As they say, why let the truth get in the way of a good story. 

The Blarney Stone

Perhaps we should credit the famed Blarney stone. Legend says if you kiss it, it gives you the gift of the gab.

New York

The Irish Heritage Museum in New York has an exhibit about Irish dance dresses, which frequently have green, at least as a border.

The places to see Irish costumes next year include, pubs in the UK, pubs in Singapore and Malaysia, Japan and Korea,, The USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, especially Montreal, Moscow, 

If you want to stock up for next year, or buy second hand, look at Shein, Amazon, Temu and other places for green hats, ties, bow ties. You can also buy spectacle frames, scarves, stocks, bunting, and sleeves which look like tattoos.

Favourite motifs include shamrocks and leprechauns.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day

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