No Wearing Of The Green

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Olivia Armstrong

It’s only for fairies.

Irish born, London based professional storyteller Olivia Armstrong writes:

Before Queen Victoria insisted on a white wedding dress in 1840, the custom had been for brides to wear bright, colourful dresses that could be worn again – but never green.

Green was the fairies’ colour and to wear it could bring devastation to the bride

Meanwhile…

Anyone?

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6 thoughts on “No Wearing Of The Green

  1. Slightly Bemused

    My aunt told me this, more or less. Bad luck to wear green to weddings, and not to wrap a newborn in green. The link with the fairies, or more specifically in the Irish context the Sídhe, was definitely there, so green with red was particularly bad at those times.

    Wearing green and red on May Day, if coupled with traditional festivities, was considered to honour the Sídhe, but I do not remember any comment about the rest of the month.

    The same aunt also explained about fairy forts and rings, and the dangers of falling asleep within a stone circle, or a circle of hazel trees.

    She also told me that she asked her gran – my great-gran – if she believed in fairies.My great-gran answered “No, but they are there.” Took me years to understand the import of that.

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