The wearing o' the Orange

[BVM_1221]

Back when I was a teenager, mumble-mumble years ago, my Maternal Grandmother had me and my Brother swear to always wear orange, not green on 17 March.:tsktsk: Grandmother was staunchly Scots, of Clan Cameron.

So Brother and I have done for decades. Have there been problems? No really. Most americans have no idea what the wearing of green really means, much less of orange. For most americans, it is not St. Patrick’s Day, but “Paddy’s day”. Greeen kitsch, shamrock kitsch, Leprecaun kitsch, and all sorts of Irish kitsch. :whackadoo:

Oooops…Grandmother forgot to tell us not to become Catholics. Probably never occured to her that this might happen.

I did, Brother hasn’t. But we both wear orange on 17 March, as promised. This might cause problems in Ireland, and even in parts of the USA. But not here in Los Angeles County.

In the LOTH, today is an Optional Memorial for Saint Patrick. I will treat it as a ferial day. I will NOT wear green. I will NOT eat corned beef, cabbage, and any other so-called Irish dish. As a Recovered Alcoholic (27 years sober), I will not drink green beer, or Guiness, or anything else like that.

Besides praying the full LOTH, I plan to stop by a Church for the Stations Of The Cross.

 

[Claudden]

I think that it is sweet that you and your brother still wear orange; it shows your love and respect for your grandmother. I, too, am of Scottish background and my paternal ancestors absolutely despised Catholics - thus my father was disinherited for converting. So I completely understand your grandmother’s request; you must love her very much.

I am wondering what would happen if I wore orange in the Chicago area, known for its huge Irish population. I suspect I wouldn’t get away so easily.

 

[Peggy_in_Burien]

I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s in -]Orange/-], I mean Green County, California, and attended St. Cornelius School, in neighboring Long Beach. We looked forward to St. Patrick’s Day, because our good sisters, members of the Irish Sisters of Charity, would give us the day off from school. It wasn’t a holy day, so we didn’t even have to get up early for Mass.

It wasn’t a huge deal, as far as beer and secular celebrations there, in those days. Mom did make corned beef and cabbage, but reminded us that our Irish ancestors had never eaten that well in the Old Country. We did wear something green, maybe just a bit of green yarn on our sweaters, just so we wounldn’t be pinched. Pinching was a great sport for children on St. Patrick’s Day in -]Orange/-] County. [we lived in the unincorporated part of the county, belonging to no city]

One cute thing that would happen, was the helicopter traffic reporter for the old KMPC radio station calling -]Orange/-] County “Green County” for the day!

God bless all of you on St. Patrick’s Day!

 

[SonCatcher]

Never mind that orange was not one of William’s colors and that orange does appear in the Irish flag…

 

[chevalier]

As long as you’ll drink to the king over the water…

 

[tuscany]

Many Protestants who are still loyal to the English Crown do wear the color orange on St. Patrick’s Day. It signifies Protestant William of Orange’s (reason for the orange color) defeat of the Catholic James II at the Battle of Boyne in 1690.
Since your grandmother didn’t like Catholics, it would be kind of a slap in the face to them to remind them of that defeat by wearing the color orange. (some people have l-o-n-g memories of things that never happened to them)

 

[SonCatcher]

:irish1:

Note both orange and green in the smiley. For the record, I’m wearing blue today.

 

[Century_Child]

I didn’t think Green vs. Orange represented Ireland vs. England so much as it’s Catholics vs. Protestants… if that makes sense lol. Apparently in the Irish flag, green represents the Catholics, orange represents the protestants, and white is the hope for peace between them

 

[BVM_1221]

I think that it is sweet that you and your brother still wear orange; it shows your love and respect for your grandmother. I, too, am of Scottish background and my paternal ancestors absolutely despised Catholics - thus my father was disinherited for converting. So I completely understand your grandmother’s request; you must love her very much.

I am wondering what would happen if I wore orange in the Chicago area, known for its huge Irish population. I suspect I wouldn’t get away so easily.

Grandmother is long dead. I am age 66 now. But she was indeed a sweet Grandmother.:yup: I doubt if she despised Catholics.:nope: Not her style.:dts: I think it was more of all that fake Irishness that runs rampant on 17 March.:irish2::irish3:I have inherated that attitude from her.:takethat:

 

[SonCatcher]

I didn’t think Green vs. Orange represented Ireland vs. England so much as it’s Catholics vs. Protestants… if that makes sense lol.

it’s quite a bit more complex than both those dichotomies (though both do come into play)

Apparently in the Irish flag, green represents the Catholics, orange represents the protestants, and white is the hope for peace between them

That would indeed be nice.

 

[maryjk]

I will NOT eat corned beef and cabbage, and any other so-called Irish dish

True the Irish ate bacon and cabbage. It was the Irish Americans living in New York with the Jews that discovered corned beef as a cheap substitute.

,. As a Recovered Alcoholic (27 years sober), I will not drink green beer, or Guiness, or anything else like that.

Although you wouldn’t want to drink anything like that, the Irish did because their water wasn’t safe. I am sure you have safe water.

Besides praying the full LOTH, I plan to stop by a Church for the Stations Of The Cross.

You might also want to research St Patrick. He has a wonderful, if colorful, history and if you have children or grandchildren, you can use the shamrock to explain the Trinity.

 

[Century_Child]

it’s quite a bit more complex than both those dichotomies (though both do come into play)

That would indeed be nice.

Cool… any chance you could explain further or maybe direct me to a good source? I’m curious to know about all that

 

[waanju]

My high school had two very elderly Irish nuns. About three years ago, one of the classes chose orange as their class color. A younger teacher gently led them to rechoose out of respect for Sr. Myra and Sr. Maria. I think that nowadays (at least in the US), it’s more about not offending elderly people who deserve respect than about the meaning of the colors themselves.

 

[benjammin]

Couldn’t you just wear both Orange and Green? BTW I wear Red the week of St Patricks day because 2 days later is St Joseph’s day and the tradition was in the Czech community (and maybe others) that you wore Red on St Josephs day. So I wear Red for most of that week because of St Jospeph (and because i’m a nebraskan GBR!!!)

 

[thistle]

This thread until today was dormant for a year and a half. We are not supposed to resurrect old threads. Instead you should start a new one.

 

[Slaney]

Back when I was a teenager, mumble-mumble years ago, my Maternal Grandmother had me and my Brother swear to always wear orange, not green on 17 March.:tsktsk: Grandmother was staunchly Scots, of Clan Cameron.

Not surprising as some Scots are more bitter than Northern Irish Protestants…

So Brother and I have done for decades. Have there been problems? No really. Most americans have no idea what the wearing of green really means, much less of orange.

Wearing of the orange here in the wrong place can get you into serious trouble, if you find yourself in the wrong area, you might escape with a beating, Celtic tops don’t go down too good either…

I did, Brother hasn’t. But we both wear orange on 17 March, as promised. This might cause problems in Ireland, and even in parts of the USA. But not here in Los Angeles County.

Seems to be a demonstration against all things Catholic and Irish…bigotry in my book, and it’s rife here…

In the LOTH, today is an Optional Memorial for Saint Patrick. I will treat it as a ferial day. I will NOT wear green. I will NOT eat corned beef, cabbage, and any other so-called Irish dish. As a Recovered Alcoholic (27 years sober), I will not drink green beer, or Guiness, or anything else like that.

Corned Beef and cabbage is not a dish eaten in Ireland,(it is **NOT **an Irish dish) I’ve never eaten it as a combination for dinner.
Seems like your grandmother as we say here was DEEP, deep in her hatred, I see your banned, but the thread is still open, so replied…

 

[SaintPatrick333]

Back when I was a teenager, mumble-mumble years ago, my Maternal Grandmother had me and my Brother swear to always wear orange, not green on 17 March.:tsktsk: Grandmother was staunchly Scots, of Clan Cameron.

So Brother and I have done for decades. Have there been problems? No really. Most americans have no idea what the wearing of green really means, much less of orange. For most americans, it is not St. Patrick’s Day, but “Paddy’s day”. Greeen kitsch, shamrock kitsch, Leprecaun kitsch, and all sorts of Irish kitsch. :whackadoo:

Oooops…Grandmother forgot to tell us not to become Catholics. Probably never occured to her that this might happen.

I did, Brother hasn’t. But we both wear orange on 17 March, as promised. This might cause problems in Ireland, and even in parts of the USA. But not here in Los Angeles County.

In the LOTH, today is an Optional Memorial for Saint Patrick. I will treat it as a ferial day. I will NOT wear green. I will NOT eat corned beef, cabbage, and any other so-called Irish dish. As a Recovered Alcoholic (27 years sober), I will not drink green beer, or Guiness, or anything else like that.

Besides praying the full LOTH, I plan to stop by a Church for the Stations Of The Cross.

Newsflash for your staunchly scot grandmother. The Scottish come exclusively from the Scotti Tribe who were Irish. So there you have it. The Scots are Irish. So being anti-irish is just hypocritical and downright silly.

 

[waanju]

This thread until today was dormant for a year and a half. We are not supposed to resurrect old threads. Instead you should start a new one.

Sorry! For some reason, it popped into my sidebar, so I assumed it was new!