Do You wear Orange or Green??

Question

Do you wear Orange or Green on St. Patricks Day and Why??

Answer 1

I was surprised to see that anybody knew the difference! Here in the U.S. few remember, but a woman told me that when she went to school in the 30s she and her friends wouldn't be caught dead wearing green on St. Patrick's day because they were Protestants and that was a Catholic thing. I have to admit that I don't pay attention to it one way or the other. I'm sure it's still a very big deal which color you wear in Northern Ireland because of the political/religious strife, and that's where the colors originated.

Answer 2

I wear Green....the wearing of the green....A must is to go to the St paddy;s day parade in south boston....: )


"The colors of the Republic of Ireland are a tricolor of green, white, and orange. The orange supposedly represents the protestant population, the green the Catholic, and the white the peace between them. (Let's just leave Northern Ireland out of this.) Protestants don't celebrate saint's days. So the wearing of green is a symbol of Saint Patrick's day and then Ireland, the Emerald Isle, in general. The day as a holiday with parades, green beer etc. is more of an American tradition than Irish, and of course on St. Paddy's day everyone is Irish."

One of the reasons that one wears green on St. Patrick's Day is because the Catholic side of Ireland is identified with green, and St. Patrick is a Catholic Saint credited with converting the island to Christianity. Where as the protestants are identified with orange, and are often 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. The irony is that the Irish flag, is supposed to represent the unity of the two with the white between the two colours represnting unity. The traditional pinching of a person who wears orange on St. Patrick's Day is a mild form of the violence that has so often occured in the past as both factions have had St. Patrick's Day marches/parades.

In Ireland there is actually very little preference to green at the parades, maybe a few novelty hats but not much more. Wearing green is an American thing.

Answer 3

Green. To wear orange on St Patrick's Day would be an insult to all the pain and suffering my family went through.

Answer 4

Well there is unwritten law that you do NOT wear Orange on Saint Patrick's Day in Boston. This goes back to the Penal laws in Ireland and the fact that Orange represents the Protestant confiscation of lands and oppression. To this day in Ireland (predominantly in the 6 occupied counties) the Orange Order likes to stir up trouble by marching through Catholic neighborhoods. Growing up in the Boston Area we knew that if you wore orange on St. Patrick's Day in some area's, the cops might pick you up to protect you (Southie and Charlestown). They take this pretty serious...

I could go on for days but if you are genuinely interested drop me an email and I can help shed some more light on the subject

Answer 5

I wear green, not because I'm Irish or Catholic or any other reason other than it's St. Patrick's Day and that's the day to wear green!

Answer 6

Green on St everyone does it

Answer 7

Green,Green,Green!

Answer 8

ORANGE! Pinch me , for a free camel bite . It is also Catholic for Green and Protestant is Orange , the white in the middle is for the peace that was between the two .

Answer 9

green, dont like orange

Answer 10

I wear green b/c it reminds me of the land in Ireland and shamrocks.