Try colours other than green white and orange?You're having a laugh. 21st March 2008

There must be some ancient, tribal law which states that Irish people are duty bound to be off work on March 17.
Buried deep in the Book of Kells or as a footnote in the constitution, our forefathers must have had the good sense to stick it in somewhere. Alas, it has yet to be discovered and so we were in the office on Monday afternoon as the celebrations began in earnest in the city centre.By all reports, the day itself passed off without major incident. From the photographs it appeared that a good time was had by all those who took to the streets.It was a glorious day weather-wise and Derry was awash with many colours including, of course, green white and orange.I said "of course" because those three colours - in that order - are synonymous throughout the world with Ireland and St Patrick's Day. Or so I thought.Despite images being beamed here from London, Sydney, Hong Kong and Mexico with people wrapped in those colours, celebrating the feast of our patron saint and drinking Guinness aplenty, apparently word hasn't reached Limavady yet.I had to chuckle when I read the remarks of DUP Alderman George Robinson on Tuesday. Apparently, the town witnessed a marked increase in the number of tricolours on show in the lead up to St. Patrick's Day and George was baffled.He said he received complaints from the public about "the flag of a foreign country being used during the celebrations for St. Patrick's Day, thereby politicising St. Patrick."These complaints reportedly came from "every part of the community". I find THAT claim baffling, but I digress.George continued: "It is a mystery to me what the connection is between the tricolour and St. Patrick, especially as the flag does not represent or have anything to do with him. Indeed, it is seen by many of those who contacted me as reprehensible to connect the two at all."So, the flag of Ireland in no way represents the patron saint of Ireland. Or vice versa. Got it.As strange as it may seem, George has a point. St Patrick was "n
either born nor reared" in Ireland. The generally held belief is that he was brought here as a slave before escaping back to his homeland. Years later, he returned to these shores and spread the Christian faith. St. Patrick was probably born in France and so to truly celebrate his feast day maybe we should hoist up the 'red, white and blue' of his home country. I bet George would love that.Union JackBut where would it end? Could we reasonably expect the British to ditch the Union Jack in favour of the 'black, red and yellow' of Germany - after all, that's where the Windsors hail from.If we are going to be pedantic and take the debate to its logical conclusion, then we should ditch the tricolour on 'The seventeenth' and fly it on 'The Twelfth' instead. At The Battle of the Boyne an English King was defeated in Drogheda - you can't have much more of a link to Ireland than that.
Surely it would make sense that the Irish flag would be flown in any celebratory commemorations?I recently discovered that William of Orange's elite force - the Dutch Blue Guards - had the papal banner with them on the day itself. Many of the soldiers fighting for King Billy were Dutch Catholics. Perhaps Orangemen should sport a similar banner when they march this Summer.If it all seems preposterous, that’s because it is. I had my tongue firmly in my cheek when suggesting that Orangemen should wave the tricolour and sport a papal banner. It is equally ridiculous to try and deny that the Irish flag is inherently linked with its patron s
aint.Alderman Robinson suggested that the tricolour is being used to politicise St Patrick. That would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic. People who celebrated St Patrick’s Day in Moscow, Madrid or Marrakech couldn’t give two hoots about politics here - everybody has their own problems to worry about.The linkIn the same way that ‘red, white and blue’ is inherently linked with the British monarchy, ‘green, white and orange’ is linked with Ireland, Irishness and St Patrick.Around the world, March 17 is an excuse to have a drink and a bit of a laugh. It doesn’t matter if those indulging in the craic are Irish, British or anything else for that matter. People dress up, wear silly hats and lark around. It’s a party - not politics. What’s disappointing is that Alderman Robinson can’t see that. If he did, he may even find it’s a lot of fun - assuming you have the day off work.