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Here are a couple of photos I took.
The first (above) is of a bowl of limes. A guy promoting Corona beers in front of a restaurant pushed a small sac at me (for free) as I was walking by this afternoon. I moved aside and walked on, then I came back seeing the lovely green color, and took it saying: "Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, right?" He didn't know what to say, since that wasn't his purpose, but he agreed anyway. Another guy was wearing a bright green t-shirt. "For St. Patrick's Day?" I asked. He looked confused, then replied he just happened to wear green that day. "Well, you might get the luck of the Irish," I joked. He was too serious.
I continued walking, with my sac of green limes, and finally passed one genuine celebrant, a leprechaun in full regalia, including a green top hat and a fluorescent green jacket lined with black. "Happy St. Patrick's Day!" I said. His answer didn't show any exuberance, perhaps I didn't look Irish enough, but he did reply, "Happy St. Patrick's Day." I spent the rest of the afternoon looking for the bright green color.
Here is the green color explained:
Originally, the colour associated with Saint Patrick was blue. Over the years the colour green and its association with Saint Patrick's day grew. Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century. He is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish, and the wearing and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs have become a ubiquitous feature of the day. In the 1798 rebellion, in hopes of making a political statement, Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on 17 March in hopes of catching public attention. The phrase "the wearing of the green", meaning to wear a shamrock on one's clothing, derives from a song of the same name.I wonder if the green has also something to do with spring? Yes, of course. Green is:
the color of spring, the shamrock, and is connected with hope and nature.Below is a photo I took many years ago, in New York City. Although I took it in the summer (during a downtown festival - I can't remember what), the buoyant balloons seem to release winter out of our hemisphere, and hopefully soon we will have colorful flowers and warm sunny days, and lots of green.
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[The street name on the left is "Wall Street." It is much clearer in the print version.]