[saymaListserv] How Ribbons Became a National Folk Symbol (American Folklife Center)

[free polazzo]

Hi

There are yellow ribbons showing up in all sorts of places:  trees, cars, 
trucks, offices. .

They seem to say "Support our Troops", but in truth they can be interpreted 
to mean "Support the War in Iraq"., especially with the red, white and blue 
ribbon next to it now showing up, too.

I've done a search on the web to look into the history of the ribbon as a 
symbol and found this explanation to be the most reliable.   If anyone else 
has a better source, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Notice that the first ribbon thought to be tied to a tree was meant as a 
message for someone who couldn't read or write, who wasn't sure he would be 
welcomed home after many years away while serving time in prison and didn't 
want to go home and find out.    The ribbon on the tree meant "Welcome Home".

I like the idea of having a simple message with a ribbon, so another search 
found me a link that had ribbons printed on a bumper sticker that was more 
in line with my Quaker beliefs that I could put on my car that 
said   "Support the Troops, Bring them home 
NOW!"   http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/yellowribbon_graphics/  ( where 
there is another link to where you can buy the bumper stickers.)

I've put this sticker on my car and on the FNCL yard signs under the "War 
is not the Answer".   Fits perfectly.

If you like to know more about the history of the yellow ribbon, follow 
this link:

http://www.loc.gov/folklife/ribbons/ribbons.html

If you want to know where to get those bumper stickers (20 for $20)  you 
can follow this link:

http://www.northernsun.com/cgi-bin/ns/5651.html

Let's speak up as well as hold all the troops in the Light.

Blessings,

Free