For several hundred years, red and green have been the traditional colours of Christmas. If you think that Christmas tree is the reason why green is one of the colours, you are mistaken. Nor is the colour red a prominent colour of Christmas due to Santa’s suit or Rudolph’s red nose. Stunned? We have to go way back in time to understand its root.
Although it is isn’t really clear why red and green are the two main colours associated with Christmas, there are a few popular theories.
Several Christians believe that red and green were inspired from the life of Jesus Christ, whose birth is celebrated by Christians on Christmas. The colour red represents the blood that was shed by Jesus Christ during his crucifixion while the colour green symbolizes the eternal life of Jesus Christ, just as evergreen trees remain green the whole of winter.
Some researchers have recorded that the colours of Christmas go back to the 1300s, a time when Miracle Plays used to be performed in churches. These religious plays were meant to educate an illiterate crowd of people who could not read the Bible, the holy book of the Christians.
A popular play called The Paradise Play performed on Christmas showed the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. According to the story, God instructed Adam and Eve to not eat fruit from the Tree of Good and Evil. They did not listen to God and ate it, after which they were banished from paradise.
Churches bring in pine trees and hang apples to their branches to represent the Tree of Good and Evil. People who follow Christianity follow this practice in their own homes by decorating a Christmas tree with red and green to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
There are some historians who believe that the practice of using red and green goes even farther back in history. They associate it with the Roman celebration of Saturnalia, which honoured the god Saturn and occurred each year between 17-23 December. Romans would decorate their homes with holly and keep tiny figurines called sigillaria on the boughs of beautiful evergreen trees as part of the celebrations. Over time, the evergreen leaves and red berries came to symbolize the festive season.
Fascinating, isn’t it? Hope you found this informative! So if you are thinking of making your home ready for Christmas, you now know which two colours you should be using and why! Berger Paints India has a range of shades in these two colours that you can choose for your walls to give it a festive touch!