Color Culture

White dresses the bride in the West and mourning in China. Six colors and their cultures, sourced: meaning came from what each cost to make.

Every human culture sends off its dead. None of them agree on what color to do it in.

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The two conventions the West treats as timeless come from the same court

The same queen invented the two conventions the West treats as timeless, in the same century. In 1840, Victoria married in white — not for purity or symbolism, but because she wanted to show off hand-made Honiton lace and support Britain's lace industry. The meaning came later, through the press and advertising. When she was widowed, she mourned Prince Albert for 40 years, which inspired Victorian widows to wear black for one to two years after a husband's death. White for weddings, black for mourning: both come from a single court.

The matrix

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Color	China	The West	Korea	Japan	South Africa	Buddhism	Islam	Rome & Byzantium	Brazil	Thailand
White	mourning, humility, return — contradicts the meaning in The West	bridal purity — but a recent, traceable convention, not an ancient tradition — contradicts the meaning in China	rootedness and respect	mourning — the traditional funerary color, before Japan and the West swapped roles
Red	luck, celebration, protection — contradicts the meaning in South Africa	danger, passion, power — the longest list of any color here			mourning and bloodshed — a recent political meaning, not ancient folklore — contradicts the meaning in China
Black	imperial status and ambivalence	mourning, authority, elegance — contradicts the meaning in Japan		dignity, formality, mastery — contradicts the meaning in The West
Yellow		caution, cowardice, attention				sacred
Green	health and harmony	nature, money, permission, ecology — overlapping layers, all fairly recent					paradise, life, revelation
Purple								color as a political instrument	mourning and devotion	mourning — reserved for widows

Colors

White The same color dresses a bride and a widow. Red In China, red is the color of weddings. In South Africa, it's the color of mourning. Black In Japan, black wasn't the color of funerals. White was. Yellow There was a yellow that could cost you your life. Green Green is sacred in Islam because it was born in the desert. Purple It took twelve thousand sea snails to dye the border of a single robe.

Cross-cutting pieces

Mourning Every human culture sends off its dead. None of them agree on what color to do it in.