What colours mean on different occasions

1Why this matters

Imagine arriving at a memorial service and finding bright party balloons and loud red and gold streamers. Nobody would need to say anything: the colours alone would feel wrong. Colours send messages, and people read those messages before they read any words.

A decorator for a wedding, a graduation, a national day or a religious festival must choose colours that say the right thing to the people who will be there. This lesson explains what colours commonly mean, how those meanings change from culture to culture, and how to choose colours for an occasion.

2Colour symbolism is learned, not fixed

Colour symbolism is the meaning a group of people attaches to a colour. These meanings come from culture, religion and history, so the same colour can mean different things in different places.

• White is the usual colour of a bride's dress in Western tradition, a custom that spread after Queen Victoria of Britain wore white at her wedding in 1840. Yet in traditional Chinese culture white is the colour of mourning.
• Red is the lucky colour worn by brides in China and India, but on a road sign it means stop or danger.
• Black is worn for mourning in many countries, and also for formal evening events.

3Common associations

4Colours in Rwandan national life

Rwanda's national flag, adopted in 2001, has a blue upper half, a yellow and a green stripe, and a golden sun. By law the colours carry meanings: blue stands for happiness and peace, yellow for economic development, and green for the hope of prosperity. The sun stands for unity, transparency and the enlightenment of the people. On national days such as Independence Day (1 July) and Liberation Day (4 July), schools and offices decorate in these colours.

During Kwibuka, the commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, which begins each year on 7 April, purple is used as the colour of mourning and remembrance, for example as ribbons and as cloths at memorial sites. Decorations at commemoration events are simple and respectful.

5Colours in religious festivals

In many Christian churches the colours of the church year change: violet during Advent and Lent, the seasons of preparation; white or gold at Christmas and Easter; green in ordinary weeks. For the Muslim festivals of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, families wear new or their best clothes and decorate their homes; no single colour is required, although green is widely associated with Islam. A decorator working for a religious community should ask about its customs rather than guess.

6Choosing colours for an occasion

1. Mood: joyful, solemn, calm or formal?
2. People: the culture, religion and age of the guests.
3. Host's wishes: many Rwandan couples choose two or three theme colours for their wedding and repeat them in the drapes, flowers, table cloths and family outfits.
4. Venue: the colours of the walls, floor and tent, and the lighting.
5. Budget: fabric, flowers and balloons in the chosen colours must be affordable and available.

Worked example: colours for three school events

In each case the mood was decided first, and the colours were chosen to express it. The same hall could hold all three events; only the colours and the items change.

Practice

Solution. Blue: happiness and peace. Yellow: economic development. Green: hope of prosperity. The golden sun: unity, transparency and enlightenment.

Solution. Colour meanings come from culture. White is worn by many brides in the Western tradition, but it is the traditional colour of mourning in Chinese culture. A colour's meaning depends on the people and the occasion.

Solution. Calm, cool, light colours such as pale blue or pale green with white. They suggest cleanliness and calm, which helps worried patients relax, and light colours keep the room bright.

Solution. The idea does not suit the occasion: red and gold balloons say "party", which is disrespectful at a solemn event. Better: white flowers, candles, quiet neutral cloths, and purple where it is the custom for mourning and remembrance, as during Kwibuka.