The Color Green
March is another month that is undeniably surrounded in a color: the color green. As St. Patrick’s Day turns the corner, I was thinking how I never have celebrated the holiday…so I really can’t speak of the this green beer day. I was raised with red wine next to the formaggio and prosciutto served on a bruscetta. However, those who know me well know I don’t give up so easily, so after a little research I did learn that it was the early Romans who first carved into crosses and laid into mosaics what we now know as the Celtic knot.
Ah ha, maybe an Italian can enjoy the Celtic designs that are usually reserved for the Irish! Besides, Italians do have a big stripe of green on the Italian Flag! As with the color red I spoke of last month, green, too, has many associations: especially that with nature, a symbol of environmentalism, a color of capitalism, the American Green Back and of course the lucky four leaf clover.
St. Patrick held the green clover as an example of the trinity and as a nod to his native Ireland. He was born during the time of the Roman-British empire, when the Roman empire ruled most of Europe. All I’m pointing out is it may be another reason for an Italian to celebrate St. Patty’s Day!
Anyway, the color green is truly one of my favorites and I will never forget returning to Naples after my first winter trip home to Canada. I remember being out one night on Queen Street, downtown Toronto, and I couldn’t quite pin point what was missing…
A few days later I was looking out the window of the airplane as we approached RSW and I had an Ah ha moment…color!!! Bright, vivid, beautiful Green!
I had a flash back to the downtown scene shaded in black and white, with people crossing the snowy sluggish blacktop in their black winter coats and boots…maybe a green traffic light glimmered in my memory. I knew then, that Florida was very special and the 365 days of Green is purely an awesome example of Mother Nature’s treats.