Wearing a Pink Ribbon for Breast Cancer Awareness? Here ’s How Awareness Ribbons Became a Thing

With Monday marking the beginning of October’s annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month observance, supporters will be donning their pink ribbons as a show of support for ongoing research for a cure. It’s a ritual that repeats itself for any number of causes, such as teal ribbons for ovarian cancer to red ribbons for AIDS awareness. But when did ribbons begin to be used as symbols for various causes? The Library of Congress’s Folklife Center has studied the history of such awareness ribbons in American culture, and found that many citizens assume that the tradition is older than it is. Among the most frequently asked questions posed to librarians on the topic is whether families of Civil War soldiers displayed ribbons for missing loved ones during the Civil War, a theory often informed by the 1949 John Wayne film She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. That movie’s story was inspired by a military ditty in which the yellow ribbon appears as a symbol for a far-away lover. That song dates back to the mid-19th century but the center argues that the roots of awareness ribbons can be traced to a much more recent pop-culture reference. In 1973, Tony Orlando and Dawn released the record “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown. It reportedly sold three million records within the first three weeks of its release. The tune is about a recently released prisoner who sings that his sweetheart should tie a yellow ribbon...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized breast cancer news society Source Type: news