Tracy's World

Top O’ the mornin’ to ya all! Are you wearin your green? What is all the green about and who started it?

At the age of sixteen, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. He had a dream and in that dream he was told by God to flee from captivity and take off for the coast where he would board a ship and return to Britain. He did this and quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gual. It was here that he studied to be a priest.

In 432, Patrick said that he was called back to Ireland to save the Irish. Patrick was successful in this endeavor. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) to the Irish people. St. Patrick died on March 17, 461 after nearly thirty years of teaching and spreading “God’s word”. Patrick has been known as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish Church.

The colors of the Republic of Ireland are green, white and orange. The green represents the Catholic side of Ireland and St. Patrick, the Catholic who converted many Irishmen to Christianity. The orange represents the protestants who were called “Orangemen”, as in King William the Orange.The clashes in Ireland between the Catholics and Protestants are often clashes of the green and the orange. Ironically, the white color in the middle of their flag is supposed to signify the peace between the two colors.

In 1798 there was a rebellion in hopes of making a political statement Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on 17 March in hopes of catching attention with their unusual fashion gimmick. The phrase “the wearing of the green”, meaning to wear a shamrock on one’s clothing, derives from the song “ of the Green.”

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was actually held in the United States Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as fellow Irishmen serving in the English army. Each year, nearly three million people line the 1.5-mile parade route to watch the procession, which takes more than five hours. Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Savannah also celebrate the day with parades involving between 10,000 and 20,000 participants.

So why do we get pinched if we don’t wear green? Actually this in an American tradition which has nothing to do really with Ireland or St. Patrick’s Day.It’s thought that the pinching started in the early 1700s, about the time that awareness of St. Patrick’s as a holiday came into being. They thought if you wore green, it made you invisible to the Leprechauns, which was good because they would pinch anyone they could see. So the pinching is to warn and remind you about the Leprechauns.

So, wear your green and keep safe from the Leprechauns and here are a few words of Irish wisdom for you.