The Wearing Of The Green...

I've never been a big fan of green because it looks ghastly next to my hair and skin coloring. That said, I just try to keep it away from my face, even though I have a great deal of Irish blood in me. I'm the only one in my family that doesn't have red hair (except for my Dad), but I did get the skin of a redhead. So, today I'm wearing my one and only green (oceanic) golf skort for my third day of playing on the green.



"The Wearing Of The Green" was originally an anonymously penned Irish street ballad dating to 1798. Wearing a shamrock in the "caubeen" (hat) was a sign of rebellion and green was the colour of the Society of The United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary organization. During that period in time, displaying revolutionary insignia was made punishable by hanging. Yikes!

Here are the lyrics to this song:

O Paddy dear, and did ye hear the news that's goin' round?
The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground!
No more Saint Patrick's Day we'll keep, his color can't be seen
For there's a cruel law ag'in the Wearin' o' the Green."
I met with Napper Tandy, and he took me by the hand
And he said, "How's poor old Ireland, and how does she stand?"
"She's the most distressful country that ever yet was seen
For they're hanging men and women there for the Wearin' o' the Green."
"So if the color we must wear be England's cruel red
Let it remind us of the blood that Irishmen have shed
And pull the shamrock from your hat, and throw it on the sod
But never fear, 'twill take root there, though underfoot 'tis trod.
When laws can stop the blades of grass from growin' as they grow
And when the leaves in summer-time their color dare not show
Then I will change the color too I wear in my caubeen
But till that day, please God, I'll stick to the Wearin' o' the Green.

So, just in case, I'm wearing this to the golf course today:

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all...