February Colors
February, the month of love. Never quite got the point. And Valentine’s Day, the day of romance. Never quite understood it besides being a commercialized day and having an interesting (and dark according to some sources) history. Love is also a strange thing. Love can be dark, could be light, sweet, bitter, joyful, agonizing, vengeful, protective, healing, poisonous, etc. When February, Valentine’s Day and love are brought into the picture the colors pink, red, and white often come into focus as well. Have you ever thought about what those colors mean? And if the meanings truly fit February, Valentine’s Day, and love?
Fittingly enough one of the things that pink symbolizes is indeed love. But it also symbolizes compassion, nurture and good health. Femininity is commonly associated with pink as well but that wasn’t always the case. At one point in history it was a neutral color and at another point in history, it was seen as a more masculine color due to its connection to red. Speaking of which, it is not surprising that red in addition to pink symbolizes love. Red also symbolizes passion, violence, energy and anger. In China, two of the many things red represents is good fortune and happiness. For India two of the things red symbolizes are strength and purity. In many Eastern cultures like China and India brides wear red wedding dresses instead of the white wedding dresses commonly found in Western culture. This leads to an interesting difference on the symbolism of white. In Western culture white symbolizes things like purity, peace and innocence. A stark contrast to how white symbolizes death and mourning in many Eastern and Asian cultures.
Bringing all the meanings together the meanings behind pink, red and white do in a way fit in with February, Valentine’s Day and love. Both the month and holiday center around the idea of love whether it is romantic love, self love or love towards family and friends. Love is nurturing, compassionate and good health is wished towards loved ones. Love can be full of energy and passion but also violent and filled with anger. Happiness can be found in love and good fortune wished upon loved ones. Strength and peace can be drawn upon from loved ones when the need arises. There are also times where Love can be pure and innocent. Death and mourning are often involved with love in a literal or figurative sense. Humans are not immortal which means death is inevitable as such mourning the death of a loved one is bound to happen. There is also the end (or death) of a relationship between a romantic partner, friend or family member that might cause you to mourn the loss of that relationship.
As you can see, like many other things, color has meaning. In this case pink, red, and white are associated with February, Valentine’s Day and Love Do Fit. You could also take the meanings behind colors in many different directions that will not be deeply discussed in this short article but is worth looking into if you are curious and/or interested in knowing more. Here are four possible directions you could take when looking into the meaning behind colors. There are the psychological effects of color like how cool colors are often seen as calming. Comparing and contrasting the similar and different meanings of color in different cultures, religions and countries. The meaning behind color in the different types of literature and film. Then there is how different colored flowers send different messages. For example, sending a combination of pink and yellow tulips has the potential to mean happiness and well wishes to the receiver.
Hope you had a wonderful, colorful, and love-filled February, we’ll see you in March!
This article was written by a Wesley Center Student Worker