St. Pat's, green, and pinching

[MaryAnn Rizzo <rizzoma@PRIMENET.COM>]

Hi all,
  I sent a message to the original poster of this question and have been
watching the discussion as it has gone back and forth. I grew up with the
"custom." My mother (who was Irish) explained that the custom was rooted
in Irish history. It may exist more in the parts of the country where the
Irish Catholic and Protestants were two strong groups. They were in
Denver, where I grew up.
  The custom is based on the "colors" associated with the factions of
Ireland. Green is the color for the Irish Catholics and Orange was the
color for the Protestants. On days of national celebration, the Catholics
would "wear the green" the Protestants would "wear the orange." Of course
wearing the color of the other faction was like waving a flag in front of
a bull. There was a lot of fighting (punching). The milder form of
agressive action was pinching.
  When the Irish came to America, they centered their celebrations on St.
Pat's day. Being typical Irish, they assumed that if you didn't wear the
green -- you were opposed to the Irish Catholic and thus on the side of
the Orange. Thus, the pinching. (Interestingly, the Irish in Ireland
don't celebrate St. Pat's day the same way as the Irish in America do.
For the Ireland Catholics it is much more of a religious holyday than a
holiday.)
  The color thing is brought up in a humorous song -- sung by the Irish
Rovers -- which tells the story of a young boy caught between the Orange
and the Green (his mother was Green; his father was Orange -- I think).
And there is also the song about the "wearin' of the green" in which
England tried to ban the wearing of the color.
  Hope this helps.
MaryAnn


MaryAnn "the librarian" Rizzo
District Library Media Specialist
Bisbee Unified School District
Bisbee, AZ 85603
e-mail address: home: rizzoma@primenet.com
  work: rizzoma@tcsn.uswest.net
web page: http://www.bisbee.k12.az.us/std/rizzo/rizzomain.index.html

"We need to educate our children for their future, not our past." A.C.
Clark
"Keep smiling. It keeps others wondering about you." M. Rizzo

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