In a pinch

Happy St. Patrick's Day! The day we get to wear green, drink green beer and eat corned beef!

But if you really want to be a traditionalist today, don't pinch anyone not wearing green, don't drink any alcohol and don't eat corned beef. Eat ham instead.

This is what I uncovered after something happened at Jennifer's school. A painful childhood memory of St. Patrick's Day had me going nuts in trying to find clothes for Jennifer to wear to school today that had green on them. Then she enlightened me with a rule her school has enacted: No pinching on St. Patrick's Day. If any of the kids pinch someone for not wearing green, they got into trouble. (The above link shares the details.)

This got me curious. I started to question society's tampering with a tradition. Then I had to ask myself: Is it REALLY a tradition to pinch someone for not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day?

I'm a research nut, so of course I hit the Internet to find out. I zeroed in on all the usual suspects -- Wikipedia, Yahoo! and Associated Content -- then started reading message board forums, blog posts and assorted Irish-related web sites. Apparently, pinching IS NOT a traditional St. Patrick's Day activity! More surprising, it's not something practiced in the ENTIRE United States! I was surprised to come across people located in different states who were confused about the whole pinching thing and said that it never happened where they went to school. (There are others on the above link echoing that comment.)

As it turns out, the tradition of pinching someone for not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day was started by schoolchildren, who pinched someone who forgot to wear green on that day. Even though green is not a popular color in Ireland, green is associated with Ireland because it is a country that is, well, "green." They call Ireland "the Emerald Isle" just because of the fact that it's very, very green year-round. Another argument promoting this custom is that the green color is on the flag (which actually heralds back to their old flag when Ireland was not free).

One other legend is that, back in the day, Irish settlers pinched their misbehaving children

So it's not a St. Patrick's Day tradition to pinch someone for not wearing green. What a relief! It's a school-oriented tradition. (Gee, not surprising. It would naturally happen that a painful tradition would emerge in a place known for having bullies.)

And here's another factoid for you trivia buffs: Long ago, the Protestants in Ireland started wearing orange as a means of protest. (Apparently, the Protestants love to protest in their spare time. LOL) So orange was put on the Irish flag in recognition of their Protestant countrymen. See "Wearing of green"

While you're there, note that the traditional St. Patrick's Day color was not green, but BLUE! I like blue better. It's my favorite color!

But, heck, blue, green or orange -- I think any of those three colors should be just fine to wear on St. Patrick's Day without penalty! Some people just wear a shamrock pin, which in my opinion should be just as good if you can't wear any green. That's the next best thing to recognizing Ireland, aye?

Now, as to the corned beef: One forum I visited had someone on there saying that corned beef is NOT a traditional Irish stipend on St. Patrick's Day. Actually, they eat ham.

Here is a humorous pinching poem I came across on AC.

But, sometimes, this pinching business isn't funny at all. As I shared, kids who normally teased me at school because of my appearance took advantage of that tradition and pinched me REALLY HARD. One brother-in-law who bullied me for years said the green on my shirt "wasn't green enough" and left bruises where he pinched me.

The pinching thing on St. Patrick's Day can get so out of hand, someone even posted this article about defensive measures you can take at work.

And we can at least take solace in the fact that a REAL pinch isn't something as painful as this:



As to us? We don't pinch each other for not wearing green. We all think it's kind of stupid and just shrug it off if someone isn't wearing green.

But you can bet we all still wear green, anyway.

One final note: If you're going to drink, please don't drive!