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1630 days ago

Happy St Patricks Day!

Robert Anderson from Curtain Clean Rotorua

Here are 10 interesting facts about St Pattys Day to celebrate the holiday.
1. St. Patrick was not Irish - Ireland's patron saint was, in fact, from Wales!
2. The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in New York in the 1760s.
3. Though we've come to associate kelly green with the Irish and the holiday, the 5th-century saint's official colour was "Saint Patrick's blue," a light shade of sky blue. The colour green only became associated with the big day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century.
4. Don’t be fooled by any holiday decorations showing lady leprechauns. In traditional Irish folk tales, there are no female leprechauns, only nattily attired little guys who spend their days making and mending shoes (meaning they earned that gold they're always guarding).
5. St. Patrick never got canonized by a pope, making his saintly status somewhat questionable.
6. Guinness sales soar on St. Patrick's Day. Recent figures show that 5.5 million pints of the black stuff are downed around the world every day. On St. Patrick's Day that figure is doubled.
7. Your odds of finding a four-leaf clover are about 1 in 10,000.
8. How did the shamrock become associated with St. Patrick? According to Irish legend, the saint used the three-leafed plant (which is not to be confused with the four-leaf clover) as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he was first introducing Christianity to Ireland.
9. According to Irish legend, St. Patrick wasn't originally called Patrick. His birth name was Maewyn Succat, but he changed it to Patricius after becoming a priest.
10. In Chicago every year, the Plumbers Local 110 union dyes the river "Kelly" green. The dye lasts for about five hours.

More messages from your neighbours
17 minutes ago

Q&A: Financial well-being with Cat Rikihana

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

We're back this Wednesday at 9.30am with a Neighbourly Q&A session. This time with Cat Rikihana who is a financial mentor, educator and financial capability practitioner at Financial Freedom Trust in the Manawatū.

Cat Rikihana (Ngai Tahu) like many financial mentors around Aotearoa, works with individuals, groups and whānau to successfully navigate financial stress and hardship. Mentors work alongside whānau to increase confidence and skills in personal money management and advocate with and for clients. Cat enjoys delivering online and face-to-face workshops which provide opportunities to normalise money conversations and encourages people to make time to consider their financial well-being.

Cat is also an independent financial well-being coach, educator and indigenous life coach at Restore Wellness Network. She is a published writer and currently in the process of writing her first non-fiction book: 'A financial self-care guide for women in Aotearoa.'

She'd love to answer any questions you may have around your budgeting and spending habits, strategies for saving, retirement planning and debt. (Don't be shy, but be mindful about what you disclose!)

↓ Share your questions in advance below and Cat will answer them on Wednesday ↓

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17 minutes ago

Here's the riddle challenge for today: No Googling allowed!

Riddler from The Neighbourly Riddler

What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.

Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed? No worries! Simply head here and click once on the Following button.

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6 days ago

Poll: Do you mind when neighbours leave freebies on the street?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

Some spare wood, used furniture or children's toys - do you mind when your neighbours leave goods on the street for others to make use of?

Share your thoughts in the comments and poll below.

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Do you mind when neighbours leave freebies on the street?
  • 83.5% It's fine!
    83.5% Complete
  • 14.7% It annoys me!
    14.7% Complete
  • 1.8% Other - I'll share below
    1.8% Complete
3726 votes