Color meanings and symbolic associations

Color meanings and symbolic associations:

Colors are thought to be the very paranormal threads that often interlace around different cultures all over the world. Although it is very indefinite to pin down the color meanings since they are very complex to, colors can serve as very strong illustrational elements that act as a code that gives a very profound level of understanding to the many individuals who are capable to comprehend the signs (Kay, Berlin, Maffi and Merrifield 1997). For instance, imagine how much inadequate information a map would give if it were in white and black only, the specific different types of the roads would not sincerely be discernible and one might even end up baffling the curve lines in the map for streams and rivers. Hence the simple yet efficient application of color gives an illustration code that helps us to firmly and correctly deduce the different kinds of images that we see. (Zettl,1999).

People from the entire world have used different colors to symbolize particular occasions and beliefs for centuries. That is from the Feng Shui ancient art to the liturgical seasons of the church year. However it should be noted that the attachments that people have made with specific types of colors are actually with all means not fixed. Again it should be understood that the symbolism and meaning of a color varies according to our myths, traditions and habits according to the different cultures and part of the world we are from. Experts have noted that depending on a culture, colors may also show dissimilar things in different contexts, which have been to subject over most of the years. For instance white color as a religious sign is usually attached to glory, joy and purity; but when a white flag is spotted during the war times it should be seen as a surrender symbol (Zettl 1999).

It is situations such as this that most of the colors are recognized all over the world. The ancient octagonal red which is deduced as a stop road sign that people in the west are accustomed to and which can also be found in most parts of the Arabic nations, say distant away from china, and in the most remote parts as the Mongolia is another vital and significant example. On the contrary yellow is hence used to spot the dangerous and most hazardous substances as it is seen to be intensely colored with much visibility that stands out. However if one was to such for the something as straightforward as a post – box in a different nation from their very own, one may get perplexed by the fact that not every nation uses the red color to represent the post-box as it is mostly found in the United Kingdom (Berlin and Kay 1969).

It should be noted that color symbolism has also been largely incorporated to the languages that we speak. Experts deduce that the strength of a color-related sign is further raised when the color is shared with form. For instance, in Japan white carnation is always a symbol of death, and in the republic of China if you offer a man a hat made up of green color, then you would be passing a message about his wife being unfaithful (Boynton and Scheibner 1967). Thus colors do not often change nuance between the specific religions that we have. Most imperatively and conceivably most apparently they change significantly between different cultures.

Red Color:

Red is said to be extensively a very challenging color and is one with very many contradicting implications and associations. It is mostly associated with fire and danger in most parts of the western world, but again denotes sex, passion and love. It is for this fact that in the very Valentine’s Day, most of the surroundings are covered and colored with a hail of red flowers, decorations and hearts Likewise during the Christmas holiday red is thought to be an ancient color along with green. Until the early twentieth century, farther Christmas used to be represented by wearing a green outfit until this was changed by the coca cola company management that so it more worth as an advertisement strategy to color him in a red outfit (Anon 6/3/06).

The other sign that is usually associated with red color is the poppy. This is the sign that is usually taken as the insignia for Remembrance Day (Fletcher 2001). Poppies are said to be widely spread throughout the entire Europe, including the Belgium in Flanders Field where a very much recognized military cemetery is located. Hence they usually stand as the only reminders of the dead with their place of burial and the very blood that was shed during the world wars. It should be noted that this association of the red color with blood is commonly found in various parts of the globe.

The Hebrew tradition always denote color red as the name of the first man “Adam” signifying blood of which without it the human blood would be impossible. In china again the red color is usually seen in vases that are often used in sacrificial rites and are often symbolized with the living (Brustan 1991). Moreover in the west the wearing of the red color during the funeral events would be highly seen as very much discourteous to the dead; however the same is used as the main color during death events in South Africa (Feisner 2000). Hence this is viewed as a good example of how color has totally contradicting meanings depending on the different countries of origin people come from.

Red absolutely has been viewed as a contrasting color to white, long before the so called War of the Roses. This difference was mainly associated with the conflict between the House of Lancaster that was mainly represented by a red rose and the House of New York symbolized by a white rose (Jameson and Hurvich 1978). In politics the color red has come to be associated with differing parliamentary occasions. Red for instance was used traditionally as the sign of the revolutionaries, unlike elsewhere in Russian and French revolutionaries that used the white color as the sign of the legitimists (Eisenstein 1986). The color is widely used in traffic and warning symbols due to its representation of high visibility and danger. However in nations like the republic of China it is the particular color associated with luck and is known to fright away evil spirits (Birn 2000).

Conclusion:

Colors often imply different stuff for various kinds of people. The different meanings that different colors suggest to us are mainly based on a lot of issues that even include individual experiences. But it should be always clear, that our perception is mainly affected by the intellectual backgrounds that we come from. It should be absolutely clear that this is not determined by the customs and traditions of the different nations in this globe, but those of the very immediate active religions surrounding us.

Works cited:

Berlin, B. & Kay, P. (1969). Basic color terms: Their universality and evolution. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Brusatin, M., (1991). A History of Colours. USA: Shambhala Publications Inc.

Boynton, R. M. & Scheibner, H., (1967). On the perception of red by red-blind observers. Acta Chromatica, 1, 205–220.

Birn, J., (2000). Digital Lighting and Rendering. USA: New Riders Publishing.

Collopy, F., (2000). Color, Form, and Motion. Leonardo, 33 (5), 355-360.

Davidoff, J. (1997). The neuropsyhology of color. In Color Categories in Thought and Language. C.L. Hardin and L. Maffi (Eds.). Cambridge University Press: England. 118–134.

Fletcher, A., (2001). The art of looking sideways. London: Phaidon Press Limited.

Feisner, E.A., (2000). Color. London: Laurence King Publishing.

Hardin (Ed.) In Color Categories in Thought and Language. (Pp. 21–56). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Jameson, D. & Hurvich, L. M. (1978). Dichromat color language: “Reds” and “Greens” don’t look alike but their colors do. Sensory Processes, 2, 146–155.

Kay, P., Berlin, B., Maffi, L. & Merrifield, W. (1997). Color naming across languages. In C. L.