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Colours of Christmas!!!

However, there’s more to ‘colour’ than meets the eye.... the recognition of red, green and gold as Christmas colours has both historical and religious origins.

Salome Phelamei
Can you envisage a Happy Christmas carnival without `lots and lots` of decorations? I do not think so, Christmas without a tree and decorations would be so unsightly and tedious. Therefore, to create a vivacious Christmas environment, we need a variety of colours to decorate our house, Church and so on. Certainly, colours take centre-stage during this season of festivity. Perhaps, I am sure like me, most of you must have wondered about the colours of Christmas. You may have marvelled why not yellow, purple, orange or blue, but it is always ‘red and green’, and of course, the golden shade which gives an ultimate striking look making it so perfect and alluring for the fiesta. However, there’s more to ‘colour’ than meets the eye.... the recognition of red, green and gold as Christmas colours has both historical and religious origins. Historically - The colour green has already been regarded as the symbol of mystery and life, long before Christ was born. With other plants having succumbed to cold during the winter season, but the holly bushes and fir trees have remained ever green all through the year, and so people thought that these vegetations are extraordinary and magical due to their miraculous surviving powers even in the harshest of iciness. These plants were thus feared and adored by the people since the olden times, thereby linking them with the mystery of life. Interestingly, only the colour green has pre-Christian origin, the other colours, red and gold became crucial only after the birth of Christ. Religious viewpoint- When the church began to celebrate the birth of Christ around the 4th century on 25th December, many Christians decorated their homes with wreaths of holly for the winter solstice and also for Christmas festivity. Thus, the colour green and wreaths of holly became related with the birth of Christ. Whilst, green represents the birth of Christ, red symbolizes the blood of Christ and his death. During this time, people also added red berries on their green wreaths of holly to make the garlands more eye catching and attractive. Hence, the colours red and green have been linked with the celebration of Christ’s birth, death and His rising from the dead. At that time, people also used pine trees with red apples and hanging wreaths of holly with red berries to decorate their houses, which has then become a Christmas tradition. Besides, the other colour i.e. gold, was added to bestow even more sense to this tradition. The colour gold represents the gift of gold from one of the Three Kings (Three Kings referred to the Three Wise Men of the East, also called Magi) to Christ when he was born. It also signifies the gift of eternal life. Although, the major colours are still red, green and gold, nowadays, Christmas decors have become more exhilarating by accumulating different new colours like, blue, silver, purple, ivy or any of the other rainbow shades. Perhaps, green and white also make an incredible combo for creating a perfect country Christmas. Besides the traditional trees and house decorations, we can also create some beautiful Christmas cards by using the different colour schemes. So this Christmas, bring out the best in your decor and experience the real ecstasy with different shades of colours as we celebrate the birth of Christ, the Saviour.