Green ribbon

The green ribbon is a ribbon in the color of green.

Mental Health Awareness is represented by a green ribbon. In the 1800s, green was the colour used to label people who were considered “insane”. ^[1]

In 17th-century England during and after the English Civil War the wearing of a sea-green ribbon symbolized affiliation with the ideals of the Levellers and later in the century with radical Whiggism.^[2]

Levellers and early Whig radicals

The green ribbon and sprigs of rosemary were symbols of support for the Levellers during the English Civil War and English Interregnum. At the funeral of Thomas Rainsborough (a Member of Parliament and also a Leveller leader who had spoken at the Putney Debates) there were thousands of mourners wearing the Levellers' ribbons of sea-green and bunches of rosemary for remembrance in their hats, as there were the next year, 1649, at the funeral of Robert Lockyer a New Model Army Agitator hanged by Oliver Cromwell for mutiny.

The Green Ribbon Club was one of the earliest of the loosely combined associations which met from time to time in London taverns or coffee-houses for political purposes in the 17th century. It had its meeting place at the King's Head tavern at Chancery Lane End, so was known as the King's Head Club. It seems to have been founded about the year 1675 as a resort for members of the political party hostile to the court. As these associates were in the habit of wearing in their hats a bow, or bob, of green ribbon, as a distinguishing badge useful for the purpose of mutual recognition in street brawls, the name of the club was changed, about 1679, to the Green Ribbon Club. The 'Green Ribbon' was the badge of The Levellers in the English Civil Wars in which many of the members had fought and was an overt reminder of their radical origins.^[2]

Support of farm families

In 1998, Margaret Bruce, a Pastoral Associate at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in North Dakota, sought a way to support farm families and came up with the idea of a green ribbon and a card that read "We care through prayer." Around the same time, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference (NCRLC) began receiving emergency calls from farm families in stress and saw that the situation was getting worse across the country. In November 1998, NCRLC launched the Green Ribbon Campaign at their 75th anniversary meeting. They developed and began to disseminate rural crisis packets to help parishes deal with the growing rural crisis.

In the UK, in November 2008,^[3] a Manchester-based support group for people living with or being affected by the HIV-virus; launched a campaign called Body Positive North West,^[4] using a green ribbon as their symbol. The aim is to raise awareness of 60 second HIV testing and encourage more people to get themselves screened for HIV, as research suggests that over a third of all HIV-infected people in Britain, are themselves unaware of this.^[5]

Awareness of political and cultural issues

• Following the July 2005 London bombings, British police in Nottinghamshire distributed green ribbons as part of a Good Faith campaign to show support for Muslim communities.^[6]

• A green ribbon draped around the symbol for the game Quake was used to raise awareness of sexual discrimination against female players.^[7]

• In Iran the green ribbon was used as a sign of support for Mir-Hossein Mousavi in 2009 Iranian presidential election, a color which has since become pervasive in Iran.^[8]

See also

• Medals of Honor (Japan)

Notes

References

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: McNeill, Ronald John (1911). "Green Ribbon Club". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 550, 551. 

External links

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