My friend who is from Holland once wore an orange jacket on St.Patrick's Day when he was visiting Ireland.?

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Orla C

Interesting. I wore an orange top in Limerick one Paddy's Day, got a few funny looks, that's all.

Dutch Protestant William of Orange - or Willem van Oranje - was the guy responsible for bringing the Orange order to Ireland, and he won the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, officially making England the ruler of Ireland - interesting that it needed a Dutchman to finally get that sorted, given that the Norman-English first invaded Ireland in 1169. However, most Irish never really accepted this, so the Protestant mainly concentrated themselves in what is now Northern Ireland, and the hardliners there have their Orange Day parades to commemorate winning the Battle of the Boyne. Orange Day parades also happen in the Republic, and people say, oh yes, that's right ... and after that pay absolutely no attention.

Was your friend in the orange jacket anywhere near Northern Ireland, by any chance. In the Northern half of the island, the colour orange has those historical/political connotations and some of the local hotheads who can't move on and leave the past where it belongs can become a little incensed with this, bless them. They don't realise that a battle that took place over 300 years ago has very little relevance today in practical terms.

As I said, I have worn orange on Paddy's Day, and only got funny looks. Plus Limerick has plenty of Protestants, all of whom take part in all local celebrations, including the Paddy's Day parades. We don't care about religion in the same way as they do in the northern half of the country. Tell your friend to come to Limerick next time, and he can explain his choice of jacket to the locals, it shouldn't be a problem, as Limerick is also the sporting capital of Ireland and they will have heard of the Dutch football team Oranje.

Eddie F

The colour orange could be deemed offensive on certain days in Ireland. The bowler hat and the orange sash, would be the same as a red rag to a bull in certain circumstances.

However, looking at the bigger picture, have we really evolved that much from they apes? If wearing an orange jacket, or orange socks or orange anything else, can provoke an attack - then we really need to take a long hard look at ourselves?

What a load of bigotted codswallop!!

Apologies to your friend, unfortunatly, there are people with brains the size of that of a goldfish!! - Oops! ... A goldfish is orange too.. will I be beaten up as well now??

froggequene

Orange is associated with the Loyalists in Northern Ireland, if your friend had been here with a large contingent of Dutch fans for a match people might have understood the context but St Patrick's Day is a national holiday & has been appropriated by the Republican side. The fact that St Patrick brought Christianity for all seems to be largely irrelevant.

ash1

wow thats pretty shocking to be beaten up for wearing a colour, i really thought we had moved on and were bigger than that now. Sorry to your friend - this was a minority group of idiots, we're not all so bigoted

But yeah Orange is associated with the loyalists (protestant) in ulster who prefer to for northern ireland to remain part of Britian and loyal to the queen, ...not that that is any justification for what happened.

fenderbloke

The orange order is a protestant group from northern Ireland. Irish history 101: A lot of catholics were and are not too friendly with protestants, and vice-versa. So wearing a colour of protestant unionists in the republic on our patron saints day is basically the political equivalent of a kick me sign.

a_stylez

yes i can see why he got beaten up.. orange is the colour worn by the orange men..the northern protestants that march down at the battle of the boyne site where englan won the wars hundreds of years ago...the orange men are also the reason for the dublin riots a few years ago,as they marched down dublin city centre which caused uproar

iansand9876

Orange is the colour of Protestants in Ireland. Your friend was somewhat culturally insensitive. Like wearing a swastika to a commemoration of Dutch war dead from World War 2.

Wayne B

The monarchy of England is descended, by one branch, from that of Holland (think William of Orange). For this reason, the color orange is strongly associated in Ireland with the English occupation.

Smileâ™¥

he had to wear green
!

edit: u ppl are so stupid, its called a JOKE
get it?

Just little ol' me

I know for fact that the Scottish wear orange as an insult to the Irish. I think the English do to but not certain. Not sure where it all stems from as far as the history. Hopefully someone can fill you in on that.

I had one Grandfather that was FROM IRELAND and he always wore green and another that was FROM SCOTLAND and he always wore orange on St. Patrick's Day. My parents made sure they didn't see each other.

*OMG, so many thumbs down? I kinda feeling like I have Orange on.

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