# Name a color.  Then explain its symbolism within a particular society.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-color-then-explain-its-symbolism-within-a-particular-society/451715>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 4, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-color-then-explain-its-symbolism-within-a-particular-society/451715 "2008-06-04T03:19:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-color-then-explain-its-symbolism-within-a-particular-society/451715/1 "2008-06-04T03:19:41Z")

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I got interested in this idea from a recent wikipedia crawl:

Most societies attach symbolism or connotation to a given color. What’s really interesting to me is that they often have different ideas on what a color means or stands for.

So I’d like to get some ideas on what meaning other cultures attach to colors.

I’ll start by listing a color and it’s given significance to my own culture, which is the United Sates:

I’m grabbing an easy one 😃

Color:  
Green

Society:  
United States

Positive associations:  
Nature, fertility, environmentalism, money, wealth

Negative associations:  
Envy, jealousy, sickness

Holidays for which this is a color:  
Christmas, Saint Patrick’s Day

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**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-color-then-explain-its-symbolism-within-a-particular-society/451715/2 "2008-06-04T04:29:26Z")

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**White!**

North America and Europe: symbolic of purity, peace, goodness. Brides traditionally wear white to their weddings. Can represent high class–‘white tux and tails’ for a formal event.

In China, Japan, Korea, and India, white is seen as the colour of mourning and death. White has negative connotations in North American culture to the supernatural (ghosts are traditionally white).

‘White’ also has racial overtones attached; ‘white’ can designate someone of Caucasian descent.