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Seamróg (clover)

Adopted by the Irish regiments of the Queen’s Army. When it became an emblem of rebellion in the 19th century, Queen Victoria outlawed wearing it and made it punishable by death by hanging; referred to as the Wearing of the Green. The Wearing of the Green originally hailed springtime. The Immortals or faeries wore it in the great legends. Green clothes attract faeries and help crops since it is the color of the earth.

During the ceremonies of initiation into the Ancient Mysteries, it is supposed that the neophyte left the physical body in a trance state, and in full consciousness, which he retained afterwards, entered the subjective world and beheld all its wonders and inhabitants; and that coming out of that world he was clothed in a robe of sacred green to symbolize his own spiritual resurrection and re-birth into real life — for he had penetrated the Mystery of Death and was now an initiate. – Walter Y. Evans Wentz

Green clothes are worn in the United States, but not in Ireland because of the upsetting reminder. Today the seamróg joins the English Rose and the Scottish Thistle on the British flag and is an integral part of Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations. (1, 2, 4)