I recently participated in Hoboken’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities, and rarely have I seen such commitment to theme and style as my peers exhibited on Saturday. Growing up, I was fortunate that my schools had an abundance of school pride so Red Ribbon Weeks, Spirit Days, and football games revealed a similar commitment to being part of the “group,” so to speak, and there was no shortage of “black-outs,” “grey-outs,” and every other color-out you could think of. However, I was not prepared for the enthusiasm college students and young adults have for the days leading up to St. Patrick’s day. It didn’t matter your age, your friend group, your style of dress, your affinity for going out or staying in, your hobbies, talents, gender, or star sign. What mattered was how much green was in your (or your friends’) closets, and how much glitter and stickers you could fit on your face.
As I sat on my couch in my living room thinking about the green bonanza I had experienced, I had a random shower thought. Or rather,staring-into-space-on-the-couch thought. What if St. Patrick’s day wasn’t green? What would it feel like to experience the pride and heritage of Irish-Americans in a completely different color? Well, it turns out that for many years, Irish people were better represented by the color blue than green.
King George III established blue as the color of Irish people throughout the 18th century by declaring a new order of chivalry for the Kingdom of Ireland, called the Order of St. Patrick. The official color of this order was a sky blue known as “St. Patrick’s Blue.” As discordance grew between English royalty and the Irish people, the color blue assigned to them by King George in years prior became tainted, and they assumed the color green as a symbol of identity, as well as a reminder of rebellion and independence. Personally, I love how the color green goes hand in hand with the fact that Ireland is often referred to as the “Emerald Isle,” due to its rolling hills and plentiful greenness of scenery. Very satisfying.
What would St. Patrick’s day look like if instead of seas of green we saw seas of sky blue? It’s very hard to imagine a day full of blue Luck of the Irish graphic tees, blue top hats, blue banners, and maybe even a sky blue shake from McDonald’s! Try as I might, it’s very difficult to imagine a St. Patrick’s day where imagery is not inundated by multiple shades of green, clovers, and pictures of leprechauns. Much in the same way, I realized, it’s very difficult to envision American patriotism without our standard Red, White, and Blue. And I imagine it must be very difficult for Ukraine to imagine its representation without their Yellow and Blue.
Most of what we associate with a culture is through what we see. As an Indian-American woman, thinking of India brings back multiple sensory recollections, from the specific spices used in certain dishes, the smell of incense during religious holidays, and the feel of silk and embroidery so reminiscent of formal events and gatherings. However, all these are punctuated in my mind with the vibrant reds, yellows, greens of fabrics, the multiple shades of brown in food that bring back such a sense of comfort, the golds and silvers of religious symbols, and so much more. The red white and blue used to signify American pride, the green of the Irish, the rainbows signifying LGBTQ+ pride and their historical struggle as well as love everlasting, and finally the red and white of our own Stevens campus are just a few of the intentional reminders of freedom, culture, struggle, and victory. Let no one replace the colors we hold dear in our hearts without our permission.
What is going on in Ukraine is a foreign idea to many of us because we have not grown up in periods of prolonged war. Humanity has come very far from the eras of war indefinite and implodable tensions. Recently, as I was listening to a podcast interviewing Noah Yuval Harari, one of my favorite authors, he mentioned that the only thing Putin has achieved by his invasion into Ukraine is planting the seed of hatred. The years to follow will be a testament to the strength of humanity and our ability to move past the evolutionary tendency of war. It will be a testament to our capacity for love and understanding as well as our ability to avoid conflating nationality and patriotism with greed and superiority. It will also, importantly, be a testament to keep hatred out of our conversations. To not allow people’s colors and cultures to be symbols of hatred. And to allow people to choose the colors they so choose to align with.
I’m sure I have strayed much farther away from a staring-into-space-on-the-couch thought than you may have expected, but truly let us try to see the world as it is and fight for the people who cannot stand up for themselves. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, but unlike dogs, we are not color blind and I hope that in the end, respect, love, and bravery can prevail.
The Doodling Duck is an Opinion culture column written and created by Pooja Rajadurai to discuss art as it relates to pop culture, trends, and students.
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