Purple, Not Green

March 17, 2023

Follow me on this one, and then ask yourself, as I do now: Why do I make my life so complicated, especially in regard to the color of my garments?

I am once again following my own decades-long, personal tradition of wearing the color purple on St. Patrick's Day today (March 17, 2023). I have been doing this since my age was in single digits in the late 1960s because I am half Italian. (I am also Austrian, Swiss, and Portuguese.)

Purple is the color of the Italians. I am a lifetime member of Alpha Phi Delta, which is a national, Italian-heritage, social-service fraternity, mostly at colleges and universities in the northeastern section of the United States. I became a member in the early 1980s, when I was studying at Villanova University near Philadelphia, and was soon elected as a member of the fraternity's local executive board, specifically "Recording Secretary." Our fraternity colors are purple and white, with the white carnation as our fraternity flower.

When I started my tradition in the late 1960s, it was slightly before I discovered that we Italians have our own celebratory day -- St. Joseph's Day -- which is two days later on March 19. If it falls on a Sunday, like this year, then we Italians celebrate it on Monday, March 20. After all of these decades, I continue to keep my purple tradition alive, as you can see in this selfie from today.

However, we Italians wear red on St. Joseph's Day, which I will be doing in three days. As an aside, do not wear the color orange on St. Patrick's Day, that is, unless you want to offend the Irish Catholics. Orange is the color of the Protestants. And, of course, wearing green on either day was never an option for me.