Re: REF: St. Patrick's Day

[Winkelman-Etue - Pamela <pamelawe@UMD5.UMD.EDU>]

Wearing of the green in honor of a deed.
The legend goes that Patrick's followers were put in a house of dry wood,
while a Protestant's followers were put in a house of green wood, and
then both houses were set a fire. The Protectants burned to a crisp,
while Patrick's followers emerged unscathed. The legend continues that
ever since that time people have worn green on St. Patrick's Day.

I got this information from "The folklore of world holidays." Another
source you might try is the "Folklore of American holiday" by Hennig
Cohen and Tristram Potter Coffin, Gale Researsch.

Hope this helps.
Pamela

On Sat, 2 Mar 1996, rhf wrote:

> As I understand it, and I could be wrong, I think Orange is a symbol of
> the Protestants, and since St. Patrick is Catholic, green (a supposedly
> Catholic color) is preferred.
>
> On Mon, 26 Feb 1996, James Brodt wrote:
>
> > A teacher at our school asked today "Why should one not wear orange on St.
> > Patrick's Day?"  We located a lot of information on the origins of St.
> > Patrick's Day and it's symbols, but nothing about the significance of orange
> > vs. green.  TIA for any help you can give.
> > Jim
> > --
> > James Brodt  (jbrodt@njlink.pppl.gov)
> > Reading-Fleming Middle School           Phone: 908-284-7521
> > 50 Court Street                         FAX:   908-284-7518
> > Flemington, NJ  08822-1325
> >
>