A
yellow ribbon is a symbol with various meanings,
mostly associated with those waiting for the return of a loved one
or of military troops who are temporarily unable to come home. In
the Philippines in the 1980s, it became a symbol for the opposition
leaders
Ninoy and
Cory Aquino and the 1986
People Power Revolution.
It is also
sometimes used at county and state fairs in the United States
, where it indicates a fourth-place finish in a
contest. Recently, it has been used to symbolize support for
the
International Suicide Prevention Program and the
Black Saturday
bushfires in Victoria, Australia. It has also been used
recently to raise awareness of
Testicular Cancer,
Endometriosis, and
Madeleine McCann.
History and etymology
Early Puritan history
The song/poem "She wore a yellow ribbon" has appeared in various
forms for at least four centuries. It is based upon the same
general theme. A woman of destiny is under some sort of test or
trial as she waits for her beloved to return. Will she be true to
him? This seems to be the lingering question and the basis for a
great unfolding drama.
The song appears to have been brought to America from
Europe by English settlers. The origin of the yellow
ribbons seems likely to have come from out of the
Puritan heritage. It was during the
English Civil War that the Puritan Army of
English Parliament wore yellow ribbons and yellow sashes onto the
battlefield.
"She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"
Yellow is the official color of the armor branch of the U.S. Army,
used in insignia, etc., and depicted in Hollywood movies by the
yellow
neckerchief adorning latter-half
19th century, horse-mounted U.S. Cavalry soldiers. However, a
review of the U.S. War Department's
Regulations for the Uniform
and Dress of the Army of the United States (1872, 1898)
reveals that a neckerchief, of any color, was not an item required
by dress code. Despite this, neckerchiefs were a popular accessory
employed by cavalrymen to cope with the frequently dusty environs.
The specific association of the yellow neckerchief with the U.S.
Cavalry may have arisen from a work of popular American West artist
Frederic
Remington--
Lieutenant Powhatan H. Clarke, Tenth
Cavalry (1888).
In the
United
States military, the symbol of the yellow ribbon is used
in a popular marching song. The first version copyrighted
was the 1917 version by George A. Norton, which he titled
Round Her Neck She Wears a Yeller Ribbon (For Her Lover Who
Is Fur, Fur Away). While he tells in
the song about the love between Susie Simpkins and her soldier
lover Silas Hubbard, his chorus goes:
'Round her neck she wears a yeller ribbon,
She wears it in winter and the summer so they say,
If you ask her "Why the decoration?"
She'll say "It's fur my lover who is fur, fur away.
The lyrics were altered and the song was titled
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon by
Russ Morgan for the 1949 movie of the
same name. This was performed by several popular musicians of the
1940s, including
Mitch Miller and
The Andrews Sisters. The text of
the Army version approximates the following, with local
variations:
Around her hair she wore a yellow ribbon
She wore it in the springtime
In the merry month of May
And if you ask her why the heck she wore it
She wore it for her soldier who was far far away
Far away, far away
She wore it for her soldier
Who was far, far away
Around the block she pushed a baby carriage
She pushed it in the springtime
In the Merry month of May
And if you ask her why the heck she pushed it
She pushed it for her soldier who was far far away
Far away, far away
She pushed it for her soldier
Who was far, far away
Behind the door her daddy kept a shotgun
He kept it in the springtime
In the merry month of May
And if you ask him why the heck he kept it
He kept it for her soldier who was far far away
Far away, far away
He kept it for her soldier
Who was far, far away
On the grave she laid the pretty flowers
She laid them in the springtime
In the merry month of May
And if you asked her why the heck she laid them
She laid them for her soldier who was far far away
Far away, far away
He kept it for her soldier
Who was far, far away
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree"
The symbol became widely known in civilian life in the 1970s. It
was the central theme of the popular song "
Tie a Yellow Ribbon
'Round the Ole Oak Tree", Written by
Irwin Levine and
L. Russell
Brown and recorded by
Tony
Orlando and Dawn among many others, as the sign a released
convict requested from his wife or lover, to indicate that she
still wanted him and that he would therefore be welcome to return
home. He would be able to see it from the bus driving by their
house, and would stay on the bus in the absence of the ribbon. He
turned out to be very welcome: there were a hundred yellow
ribbons.
From the
Library of
Congress
:
- In October 1971, newspaper columnist Pete Hamill wrote a piece for the New York Post called "Going Home." In it,
college students on a bus trip to the beaches of Fort Lauderdale
make friends with an ex-convict who is watching for a yellow
handkerchief on a roadside oak. Hamill
claimed to have heard this story in oral tradition.
- In June 1972, nine months later, Reader's Digest reprinted "Going Home."
Also in June 1972, ABC-TV aired a dramatized
version of it in which James Earl
Jones played the role of the returning ex-con. A
month-and-a-half after that, Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown
registered for copyright a song they called "Tie a Yellow Ribbon
Round the Old Oak Tree." The authors said they heard the story
while serving in the military. Pete Hamill was not convinced and
filed suit for infringement.
- One factor that may have influenced Hamill's decision to do so
was that, in May 1973, "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" sold 3 million records
in three weeks. When the dust settled, BMI calculated that radio
stations had played it 3 million times--that's seventeen continuous
years of airplay. Hamill dropped his suit after folklorists working
for Levine and Brown turned up archival versions of the story that
had been collected before "Going Home" had been written. [58927]
Usage in various countries
Australia
In Australia, the
Save Albert Park group have
utilized the yellow ribbon as a symbol of protest.
The group is a
coalition protesting the reclamation of public space in Albert
Park, Melbourne
for the annual Australian Grand Prix
. When the race moved to Melbourne in 1996,
yellow ribbons were tied around the trees in the park which were
designated for removal. Although the group were unsuccessful in
protecting the designated trees, they and their supporters still
tie ribbons around the trees each year at the time of the
race.
In 2009, the yellow ribbon was used during the appeal for those
affected by the
2009 Victorian
bushfires.
Danish yellow ribbon
Denmark and Sweden
In Denmark and Sweden the yellow ribbon has become the more or less
official (though not directly officially endorsed by the countrie's
military) symbol for support of troops in missions.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, yellow ribbon is used as a symbol to show solidarity
and sympathy for the victims of the riots and chaos in
Indonesia May 13-15, 1998, who
were mostly Indonesian Chinese.
Israel
Starting
in August 2008 in the northern Israeli
province of
The Galil, yellow ribbons were tied to the
left side mirrors of civilian cars as a symbol of the hope of the
Israelis to free Israeli soldier Gilad
Shalit who was imprisoned in the Gaza
strip by
Hamas. Shalit was born and raised in
the small village of Mizpe Hilla in the upper Galil.
Japan
Japan's
Medal of Honor uses
a yellow ribbon to acknowledge professionals who have become public
role models.
Malaysia
In Malaysia, this yellow ribbon is used as a symbol of "Press
Freedom".
The Philippines
In
the
Philippines
, usage of
the yellow ribbon first gained prominence in the 1980's during the
Martial Law era as a symbol of
opposition Senator
Benigno Aquino, Jr. Aquino was
released from prison and went into exile in the United States to receive treatment for a heart problem.
There were concerns that doctors at the
Philippine Heart Center might have
been in league with then-dictator
President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
In 1983, Aquino flew back to the
Philippines, and inspired by the song Tie a Yellow Ribbon
Round the Ole Oak Tree by Tony
Orlando and Dawn, his supporters tied yellow ribbons along the
streets of Metro
Manila
to welcome him back. But he never saw them.
Aquino was
assassinated as he stepped
off the plane, leading to a series of dramatic events over the next
few years, culminating in the EDSA
People Power Revolution of 1986 that
overthrew Marcos. Yellow and yellow ribbons were the symbols of the
anti-Marcos movement and of the woman who led it, Ninoy Aquino's
wife,
Corazon "Cory" C. Aquino. For instance, Mrs. Aquino would often
appear in public wearing yellow dresses.
In 2008, yellow and the yellow ribbon reappeared, first as a sign
of support to the now-former President Corazon Aquino as she
struggled with cancer, and then as a sign of remembrance and
respect when she
passed away on
August 1, 2009. People wore yellow shirts, tied yellow ribbons
along the street, and integrated yellow and yellow ribbons into
their blogs and Facebook pages. "Laban at magkaisa."
Singapore
In Singapore, the government has initiated an annual Yellow Ribbon
campaign to promote giving ex-convicts a second chance in society.
Typically, a person shows his support for ex-convicts by pinning a
yellow ribbon on his shirt during the annual campaign held in
September. This was probably influenced by its use as a symbol of
acceptance in the song "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree"
as stated above.
United States of America
During the
Iran hostage crisis, the yellow
ribbon was used a symbol of support for the hostages held at the U.S. embassy in Tehran
.
This
symbolism began in December 1979, when Penelope Laingen, wife of the most senior
foreign service officer being held hostage, tied a yellow ribbon
around a tree on the lawn of her Maryland
home. The ribbon primarily symbolized the
resolve of the American people to win the hostages' safe release,
and it featured prominently in the celebrations of their return
home in January 1981.
The yellow ribbon saw renewed popularity in the United States
during the
Gulf War in the early 1990s. It
appeared along with the slogan "
support our troops", in the form of
yellow ribbons tied to trees, and countless other contexts. It
often had the implied meaning of supporting the
Desert Shield and
Desert Storm troop deployments themselves
and/or loyalty to
President George
Bush, and therefore became somewhat politicized. It appeared
again during the
2003 Invasion of
Iraq with similar meanings, most prominently in the form of a
yellow ribbon printed on magnetized material and displayed on the
outside of automobiles.
See also
References
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