St. Patrick's Day and the wearing of the green

This is some fresh moss I took the other day while on a walk with George. The grass in Maryland is turning a nice shade of green, but ever so slowly.

I remember going to church one St. Patrick's Day a long time ago when I was just a little girl of around 10 years of age. St. Patrick's Day was a big deal in the Catholic religion and I dressed in green as my mother instructed, but I wore these new tights I had just gotten and they were a burnt orange color. My mother had an immediate conniption as soon as she saw me! She said, "Katy, for the love of God, what are you wearing?" To which I looked down at myself and said, "Some green and oh, I wanted to wear these new tights today." My mother then explained to me that the wearing of orange was forbidden on this day and I was to go up and change my tights immediately becuase now we're going to be late for church. She tried explaining things to me, but we were in a hurry and I was instructed to change and do it quickly.

Since then, I learned that the orange wearing was for the Protestants and the Catholics wore the green. The Irish flag is made up of three colors: green, orange and white. The orange and green we already know what they're for, but the white is the symbol of hope for peace between the two.

I really felt bad about wearing those tights that day. But I got over it. I don't really celebrate St. Patrick's Day other than to wear something green. And I never, ever have worn orange on this day. God, my mother would kill me.