The Irish standard., 1899-11-18
WAS IT OUR OWN IMMORTAL GREEN?
The Red Branch Knights Used
the Green Banner.
SCARLET UNIFORMS QUITE POPULAR
Worn by the Irish Brigade in
the French Service.

Worn by the Irish Brigade in
the French Service.
The question OF what was originally
the national color OF Ireland has been
often discussed, but never satisfactorily
and finally decided. Yet the truth OF
the matter mas been pretty well set forth
before now, says S. ]. R. in the Gael.
In early times the Irish kings, sub
kings and chiefs each had his own favor
lite co]ors, either for the purposes OF
battle Or for ornamental display, but
there is no record that any one color
was regarded as a specially national
color In the Battle OF Magh Leana," :"
translated by Eugene O'Curry and pub
lished by the Celtic Society in 1855, we
find on page IS the following:
"And at glance OF his eye that the
King OF Ulster threw past himself, he
saw quite close, coming toward him, the
lofty many-colored banners of the Mon
arch"
There is nothing to indicate that
green was one of the colors used, but
while it probably was iavorite or per-
haps fashionable color at that period,
it was not used in common or as rep
rescnting the kingdom.
1t is said that the term tgreen" is an
evident-though somewhat erroneous
application OF "grian,' the Gaelic word
meaning the SUN. The ancient Irish
were sun-worshippers, and in all the
authentic annals concerning them which
have come down to us the only national
military forces that are mentioned are
''the seven ordinary and seven extraor-
dilary battalions Of the Fenians Of
Erin" which were marslaled under one
leader, and supposed to constitute a
standing army, or national guard, sub
ject to the orders OF the "Ard-Righ," :"
or High King, elected to govern the
whole country, under the Brehon laws
the fairest judicial code ever devised by
human wisdom. The flag, or standard,
Of this national militia was known as the
"Gall-grianach"-literally, "rock of the
sum-" indicating impregnability; and, as
it was never supposed to be displayed
except on occasions OF great emergency,
calling for the exertion OF the full ma
tional power, such as the repelling of
a foreign invasion, the name has been
interpreted, from the old Gaelic, as sig
nifying "Sunburst,' most poetic idea.
The Irish army that defended Linz
erick, under Sars6eld and D'Usson, and
the brigades that fought at Cremona
and Fontenoy wore the blue and GRIM
son and gold OF the Royal Guards, and
were known, on the roster Of the French
war department., as the household
troops of his Majesty, the King of Great
Britain and Ireland"
The accepted belief at present is that
the adoption of green as the national
color came about gradually and imper-
ceptibly. Irishmen have never taken
kindly to what has been provided for
them by the British government, and in
time general feeling grew up among
the patriotic people that for their YER
dant isle green should be the national
color. For hundreds of years sham
rocks had been worn on St. Patrick's
Day, and "the wearing of the green"
had been sung and talked OF. The United
1rishmen approved of the color and
adopted it, and the poetry of Moore
popularizcd and confirmed it.
The patriotic songs, in which the
"green" is embalmed as "the color OF
the true," all date from the time of the
United Irishmen; and the fact that it
was then the English government at
tempted to ostracise it gave it its dis
tinctivc political significance.
Red Branch Knights had green satin
banner, blazoned with a yellow (goldcn)
lion, and Thomas Moore was probably
aware OF 1t when he wrote Let Erin
Remember the Days of Old"
In Musgrave's History OF the Rebel
lion of 17oS' it is stated that the insur-
gents in Wexford carried green flags on
which yellow harps were sewn or en-
broidered. 1a
The fact that attention is called to the
green flags by Musgrave and others
would seem to indicate that they we're
unusual and probably unheard of by
those writers before that time.
It would also seem to indicate that
the insurrection in 1898 was the period
during which they were first publicly
displayed.