6. The Song "Wearing Of The Green" Is Anti-Colonialist... So Be Careful When Singing It In The Pubs Around Britain
The song Wearing of the Green will be sung in pubs in Ireland and around the world on St Patrick's Day - but its origins are from the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Many Brits will join in the festivities and belt out lyrics from the song - yet be careful, because it is actually extremely anti-British. The original resistance song contained the lines "they are hanging men and women for the wearing of the green" and "so if the colour we must wear be England's cruel red, let it remind us of the blood that Irishmen have shed". Not really celebratory lyrics, are they?