Tie your own Yellow Ribbon and/or participate in one of many Yellow Ribbon Campaigns. For example, learn how to make a Yellow Ribbon, Sept. 11, and POW/MIA pins at: |
TYING UP TRADITION The story behind the Yellow Ribbon Symbol |
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The tradition of tying a yellow ribbon around a tree became popular in song and action in the 1970s when the hit song, Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree, was recorded by such popular musicians as Tony Orlando & Dawn. |
Why do Americans tie and wear yellow ribbons to symbolize our wish for loved ones to come home? Some say the tradition dates back to the U.S. Civil War era when women wore yellow ribbons as a token of remembrance, keeping in tune with a popular ballad of the time, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Others say the tradition goes back further, a tradition tied up on folk songs of the early 1800s from Philadelphia and England, including Round Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. As its predecessor folk songs did, the tune tells the story of a convict bound for home with hopes that his sweetheart did as he requested and tied a yellow ribbon on an old oak tree to signal him that she wanted him back. Gail Magruder, wife of Watergate scandal convict Jeb Stuart Magruder, brought the folk song to life when she made news in 1975 for decorating her front porch with yellow ribbons to welcome her husband home from jail. Then, in 1979, families and friends of American hostages taken in Iran put a new military twist on the increasingly recognized symbol and asked Americans to hang yellow ribbons until the hostages were released. The result was a No Greater Love campaign that not only prompted many ribbons tied on American branches but also saw to the distribution of 10,000 yellow ribbon pins so Americans could wear their thoughts on their chests. Yellow Ribbons were again adopted as national symbols of support for loved ones, especially soldiers, far away during the Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s. It's a tradition that carries on across America, and the world, today. |
TYING UP TRADITION The story behind the Yellow Ribbon Symbol |
Tie your own Yellow Ribbon and/or participate in one of many Yellow Ribbon Campaigns. For example, learn how to make a Yellow Ribbon, Sept. 11, and POW/MIA pins at: |
