Unique Meanings of Green in Different Cultures

In China, Green may symbolize infidelity. A green hat symbolizes that a man's wife is cheating on him. In Israel, green may symbolize bad news. In Japan, the words for blue and green ("ao") are the same. In Spain, racy jokes are "green."

Luck or Bad Luck?

Green is a lucky culture in most Western cultures. A green shamrock symbolizes this. You won't find many green cars at racetracks because they are considered unlucky. Circus and traveling showmen in Australia may consider green to be bad luck.

An old English rhyme about wedding colors: "Married in green, Ashamed to be seen."

Designing with Green

There are more shades of green than that of any other color. Greens range from yellow-greens, such as lime and avocado greens, to those with a blue tinge (such as emerald). Aqua or turquoise are colors that are typically half green and half blue.

Color Blindness

Approximately 5% - 8% of men and 0.5% of women of the world are born colorblind. People who are protans (red weak) and deutans (green weak) comprise 99% of this group.

Some European countries have outlined certain traffic light colors so that it is clear which is green and which is red, by the color that has a rectangle around it. Some states in the U.S. have placed diagonal lines through green traffic lights as an aid for the colorblind.

Signage: Green vs. Red Exit Signs

Green exit signs have an important advantage when there is smoke in the air (in other words, when a fire is burning). With red exit signs, it looks like a fire - firemen have actually rushed into burning buildings and tried to put out the signs! With a green sign, people know it isn't the fire itself but the way to safety.

Not only should Exit signs be Green to correspond to the established International Standard for Safety Signs since the early 70's but they should also have the International Standard Graphical symbol for exit as given in ISO 6309 and ISO/DIS 3864 Part 1 and Part 2. It is time to consider that all exit signs should be the same throughout the world. There also myths about the Effects of Green on the Body. For example: when one sleeps on a pea-green pillow, it prevents baldness.

Green is the best color for pregnant women.

Feng Shui claims that green eases absent-mindedness, nervousness and rudeness.

The Evolution of the Symbolism of Green in Western culture

In Celtic myths the Green man was the God of fertility.

Later in the millennium, Early Christians banned green because it had been used in pagan ceremonies.

Nevertheless, as evidenced by Van Eyck's 15th Century wedding portrait, the color green was the best choice for the bride's gown because of its earliest symbolism.

Of note is the continued symbolism attached to the color in the latter part of this century. Anyone who chooses a green m & m (an American candy which contains an assortment of different colored chocolate sweets) is sending a somewhat similar message.

Read the text carefully and answer the questions:

1. What kind of colour is green?

2. Where green is a holy colour?

3. Does it have any meanings in different cultures?

4. Why do people associate it with nature and ecology?

5. Why do Early Christians ban green?

Glossary

English	Russian	Kazakh
turquoise	бирюзовый	көгiлдiр
infidelity	неверность	опасыздық, терістік
fertility	фертильность	ұрықтылық
celadon	цвет морской волны	теңiз толқынының түсi
sleazy	неряшливый	салақ
sickly	болезненный	ауыру
emerald	изумруд	жакұт, меруерт

Purple

Purple’s rarity in nature and the expense of creating the color and has given purple a supernatural aura for centuries. Purple is also the most powerful wavelength of the rainbow – and it’s a color with a powerful history that has evolved over time. In fact, the origins of the symbolism of purple are more significant and interesting than those of any other color.

If we go back to our pre-historic existence, our ancestors probably never saw a purple fruit, flower, bird, fish - or any living thing - because purple is very rare in nature. This is hard to imagine in today’s connected world.

As civilizations developed, so did clothing and colored dyes. The earliest purple dyes date back to about 1900 B.C. It took some 12,000 shellfish to extract 1.5 grams of the pure dye - barely enough for dying a single garment the size of the Roman toga. It’s no wonder then, that this color was used primarily for garments of the emperors or privileged individuals.

Over the course of history, purple pigments and dyes became less costly and complex, but one thing has remained the same: Purple symbolizes nobility and luxury to most people in the world.

Today, science has revealed much more about purple than our ancestors ever realized: Purple is the most powerful visible wavelength of electromagnetic energy. It’s just a few steps away from x-rays and gamma rays. (See the chart here.) Perhaps this explains why purple is associated with supernatural energy and the cosmos than with the physical world as we know it.

Taking all aspects of purple’s past and present into consideration, purple symbolizes magic, mystery, spirituality, the sub-conscious, creativity, dignity, royalty – and it evokes all of these meanings more so than any other color.

Variations of purple convey different meanings: Light purples are light-hearted, floral, and romantic. The dark shades are more intellectual and dignified.

The negative meanings of purple are decadence, conceit, and pomposity. Purple is also a color of mourning.

One of the most significant aspects of purple’s symbolism is the generational divide. There’s a huge difference of opinions about purple. It all depends on age.

Most young people view purple as a happy color. No baggage. Older adults view the color through a broader perspective. Furthermore, purple takes on new meanings in many cultures.

Purple tends to be a color that people either love or hate.

Among Mediterranean people, purple was reserved for emperors and popes. The Japanese christened it “Imperial Purple”

Purple is the color of mourning or death in many cultures (U.K., Italy, Thailand, Brazil).

Purple is not a common flag color. Only two flags contain purple.