I received a delightfully unexpected surprise this week. In anticipation of March 17, a friend gave me a colorful pair of St. Patrick’s Day socks. They are quite cheery with a pattern that includes shamrocks and little mugs of green beer topped off with stripes of white and varying hues of green.
Some people might say they are gaudy, but I really like them. They will go perfectly with my St. Patrick’s Day outfit. I’m not sure what I will wear on the Irish holiday, but it won’t be too difficult to find something. I love green and I have an abundance of green shirts and sweaters. But for some reason I don’t have any green socks, so I am happy to now have these lovely St. Patrick’s Day socks to complete my ensemble. There is no way I will be pinched on St. Patrick’s Day!
However, my fancy green socks made me wonder just why it is that we are threatened with pinching if we don’t wear green on St. Patrick’s Day.
I can’t believe I never questioned the tradition before. I remember forgetting to wear green once on St. Patrick’s Day and being pinched numerous times by mischievous classmates when I was in elementary school. I didn’t question it. It was a fact of life. Just as it was commonly accepted that if you stepped on a crack you would break your mother’s back or if you scared someone with hiccups, they would stop hiccupping, if you neglected to wear green on March 17, you got pinched.
I love trivia and now that the question had arisen, I had to find the answer. I of course turned to the magic of the Internet, only to be quite disappointed. The more trustworthy sites explained that the primary reason for wearing green was to take a side in the age-old conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. A sad and serious explanation.
Another explanation was more positive. Some say the reason to wear green is to celebrate the cusp of spring. Wearing green is symbolic of new growth and rebirth. A nice thought for the final chilly days of winter.
None of that explains how the silly tradition of pinching people who don’t don green on St. Patrick’s Day began. You may have guessed, or maybe you are Irish and already know, that it is all because of those mischievous leprechauns.
According to Irish legend, leprechauns delight in wreaking havoc. Apparently, if they can get away with it, they will trip or kick or pinch humans. But, legend also claims that humans can protect themselves by simply wearing green. Wearing green supposedly makes the wearer invisible to leprechauns!
The reason for the pinch is to warn the person who is lacking green in his or her attire that there are leprechauns around and they may cause harm. So, the person wearing green harms you to keep you from harm. It’s not a pinch—it’s a friendly reminder to protect yourself by putting on some green.
However there are flaws in the Irish storyteller’s tales. If these mythical fellows are such a danger, why aren’t we wearing green and reminding one another to wear green every day? Do leprechauns only appear on St. Patrick’s Day? What about the days when there are rainbows and they are supposedly protecting their pot of gold? Should we wear green on misty days as well?
I am more inclined to believe that the whole fable was fabricated by some playful person who just felt like going around pinching people for no good reason. Probably someone who had imbibed in a bit too much green beer.
Whatever the reason for the wearing of the green and the pinching if you don’t, I found some interesting new information on the magical Internet. There are some who hold the tradition that if someone accidentally pinches someone who is actually wearing green, the pinchee gets to pinch back—10 times! Now that’s some handy information to have if you forget to wear your green where it can be seen on March 17!
If a leprechaun doesn’t wear
green—can you pinch him?
Anonymous
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