The Orange and the Green

[kengr]

(full disclosure: My mother was born in 1909. Her father immigrated from Ireland in the late 1800s. So I'm third generation Irish-American, and due to the large generation gap heard a *lot* of stuff folks farther removed from Ireland haven't)

Yesterday the local news anchors were joking around about how one hadn't had anything green handy so he'd decided to wear something "orangish". I forget his justification.

The other anchor (who'd grown up in the Boston area) mentioned that there that would have gotten him pinched.

Neither seemed aware of the historical context, which makes wearing orange on St Patrick's day a *very* strong political statement.

Go back a few decades and wearing orange would have gotten you a lot more than just "pinched".

For some context go read the wiki article on the Orange Order

But in essence wearing orange on St. Patricks day is right up there with dressing as a Klansman for the 50th Anniversary of the Selma March. Or wearing a Swastika at a Jewish event.

The Orangemen were effectively a protestant terrorist group, quite a bit like the KKK. They went after Catholics.

Mind you there's a lot of blame on both sides, but that doesn't make the stuff they did right.

Comments

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

You should send the anchors this information.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

The justification is quite simple, though the history is complex and self-referential. Green is for Catholics (it's the holy day of Saint Patrick, remember!) while orange signifies Protestants. It's a point of symbolism that the white of the Irish flag symbolizes peace between the two - although the symmetric tricolor has been optimistic about that in some periods.

I've occasionally made a point of digging out an orange shirt for the day, having been raised Methodist, but in the US it's generally the case that nobody has a clue.