I have heard good reasons for Pagans wearing green on St. Paddy's day, and I think everyone, Orange Irish or Green, should wear the color that speaks to them.

This is why I am going to wear White.

I wear Green A LOT. I'm Pagan. I love nature and the smell and feel of the outdoors. Some of us wear black. I wear a lot of green. It's the color that most represents my connection with the Divine. Much like the Catholic Irish, I love this color and would wear it with pride to represent my love for Ireland on St. Patrick's Day. It is a color synonymous with the green lands of Éire.

The two outer colors of the Irish flag are well represented. In today's world the 'Green' on St. Patrick's Day stands for the proud Catholics whom did everything in their power to set themselves as the voice of the divine on the island. We, as Pagans should remember that they made sure that grove after grove was burnt and cut so that monasteries could be built in the clearings. Statues of Brighid covered in veils and renamed to Mary.

Then we have those that wear 'Orange' on St. Patrick's Day to represent King William III's defeat of the Catholic King James II at the Boyne River. This was the start of years and years of Protestant rule over the Pagan lands of Éire. This battle was of so little consequence to the Dutch King that the orange is worn for, that scholars say that the whole battle was "but an irritating sideshow to his main interests on the European Continent"

But there is another group of people that make up Ireland. A people who some would say are at the center of where Ireland came from. I see another color on that flag with placement and symbolism that speaks to my heart as a Pagan.

There is room for every color on that flag, and they all make up the whole cloth.

The official word is that the color white stands for the hope for peace between Catholicism and Protestantism, but to me it stands for something more concrete. Something that brings the whole of the cloth together. The color white represents a state of being that is untouched by outside influences. It represents a land untouched by the removal of it's Gods and wee folk. Before the Green of St. Patrick's attempt to remove the "snakes" from Ireland. Before the Orangemen and the Dutch Kings invasion.

The placement of the white in the Irish Flag is at it's center. Just as the center, the core of Ireland, lies in its magic. It lies in her harps, and her wells. Her rivers and her hills. In the very fabric of her creation. She is The Fir Bolg, The Tuatha de Danaan, the Sidhe, the Sons of the Mil and Taliesen the Bard, Finn Mac Cumhail and his legendary Fianna Warriors. These are the center of Ireland. Just as the white block stands tall in the center of that flag, so too do these icons stand tall in the center of the hearts of the Irish and their lands. The center. The Goddess Éire, flanked on both sides by all that has tried to subjugate her, yet the one who has been given the job to bring peace to the whole.

And this is why I will be wearing white this St. Patrick's Day. And make no mistake, I am Pagan and I will be wearing white for that reason. And I will do so with love and respect for the pinches from the other colors of my flag, no matter what walk of life you find yourself in. You may join me or you may do something otherwise. Do what feels right to you. There are three colors on this day, and we make up the whole cloth.