Jan 27 2008
Ribbonmen
The Kelly gang, like so many of the Irish rural rebels, performed their outrages under a full moon. The raid on Jerilderie, the shooting of Aaron Sherritt and the subsequent siege at Glenrowan, all coincided with the full moon.
In Ireland the ‘Ribbonmen’ and the “Whiteboys’ also carried out their activities on nights illuminated by the full moon. The Kelly gang were active in an Australian setting, with an Irish influenced symbolism.
Who were the Ribbonmen?
The Ribbonmen were members of a secret associations among 19th century lower class rural Irish Catholics organised in opposition to Orangeism, and similar to that of the Whiteboys or the Defenders of earlier periods.
The ideology of the Ribbonmen was anti-British, anti Protestant and anti-landlord. It could be classified as a primitive form of nationalism. The Ribbonmen were involved in violent riots (some of which ended in deaths) with the Orange Order in the north of Ireland and elsewhere used violence to resist paying tithes to the Protestant Church of Ireland. The name is derived from a green ribbon worn as a badge in a button-hole by the members.
The Tithe War
In Ireland between 1831 and 1836 a series of periodic skirmishes and violent incidents broke out. The anger was over the obligation of Irish Catholics to pay tithes for the upkeep of the Protestant Anglican Clergy.
Under the English Penal Laws for Ireland, anybody working the land was required to pay an annual tithe - a religious tax - of 10% of the agricultural produce for the upkeep of official state church, the Anglican (Episcopal) Church of Ireland.
This was despite the fact that the vast majority of the population were Catholic. More often than not, tithes were collected in the form of goods, especially livestock, as opposed to payment of monies.
