Did you know that around the early 1900s to the 1940s the colors we associate with guys and girls were actually switched? Back then, pink was for younger guys and blue was for girls. And if you went somewhere further west, you would find that white would be a color of flowers that people would hate to get because of the implications it gives. For this story it will be about the significance of colors over time and its significance around the world.
These days pink is seen as a color for girls and femininity, while blue is a color for guys, but this wasn’t always the case. According to paleofuture.com, around 100 years ago, pink was a color for young boys and blue for girls. If it wasn’t always the case, what caused it to change, and why was it viewed this way back then? Back then, many men used red because it was interpreted as a strong color, and, since pink was a lighter color of red, and it was used as a substitute before they went onto using a stronger color. Many people had said that the color blue was a more submissive, gentle color, and therefore was perfect for girls. During this time, there were many arguments in columns discussing this until at some point the minority(pink=girls, blue=boys) ended up becoming the majority, and now it is widely accepted as the gendered colors for babies across a multitude of cultures.
Since ancient times, purple has been perceived as a royal color in many cultures though not in all, as some consider it more commonly a color for mourning. In places such as ancient Rome, Phoenicia, Persia, and the Byzantine Empire, according tomedium.com, purple was viewed as a wealthy, luxurious color, mostly because of how expensive it was to get the color. You had to get purple from thousands of snails to get one measly tablespoon of purple dye, and the process to get them and get the color properly took around 2 weeks. Although that is the most popular perception in other cultures, purple is perceived as a color used for mourning in places like Thailand, Brazil, etc.
Did you know that white is actually a color? Well, I wouldn’t be saying it if it wasn’t true. And since white is a color, why not learn its meaning in different cultures in the meantime? White is a color that most of the time imbues people with excitement, as it is a common color with wedding dresses, communion dresses, and confirmation dresses because of how people view the color as being a symbol of purity, cleanliness, and peace. However, in some Asian cultures, white is a color that they view as unlucky, death, and a color to use for mourning at funerals instead.
Overall, pink and blue, purple and white are colors that have a wide range of meanings; it all just depends on what culture they were raised in. So, because colors can have totally different meanings depending on where one lives, be careful and study what color of a gift you give someone, or else they might interpret it differently than you originally intended. There are many colors other than blue, pink, white, and purple that were talked about that mean different things in other cultures, so websites like thatsmandarin.com and adrianreynolds.ie(put colors at the end of one)are great to try and take a look at.
