Colours in Bulgaria and Japan
Pick two countries and read what each colour means in one beside the other.
| 🇧🇬 Bulgaria | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
|---|---|---|
| Red | On 1 March people give each other martenitsi, small tassels or dolls of red and white thread. They are worn until the first stork or blossoming tree is seen. Protection and healing, Luck and prosperity | The torii gates of Shinto shrines are often painted vermilion, a bright orange-red. The colour is held to keep evil away, and the long tunnels of gates at Fushimi Inari are the best known. Sacred and holy, Protection and healing |
| Green | The flag is white, green and red. The green band, which took the place of the blue in the Russian flag, is read as the country's forests and farmland. Politics and protest, Nature and renewal | Nothing recorded yet |
| Blue | Nothing recorded yet | Indigo dyeing, called aizome, clothed ordinary people in deep blue through the Edo period. The men's national football team plays in blue and is nicknamed Samurai Blue. Festival and celebration |
| Purple and violet | Nothing recorded yet | Purple dye from the murasaki plant was costly and hard to make. In the court rank system set up under Prince Shotoku, the highest officials wore purple caps. Royalty and power |
| Pink and magenta | The Rose Valley near Kazanlak grows pink damask roses for rose oil. The harvest in late May and June is marked by a festival and the crowning of a Rose Queen. Nature and renewal, Festival and celebration | Pale pink is the colour of cherry blossom. In spring people picnic under the trees for hanami, flower viewing, and the short bloom is a common image for how brief life is. Nature and renewal, Festival and celebration |
| White | Nothing recorded yet | A bride at a Shinto wedding may wear the shiromuku, a kimono that is white from head to foot. White is also the colour of the paper streamers that mark sacred places. Weddings and marriage, Purity and peaceRed and white together, called kohaku, mark happy occasions. Curtains at ceremonies are striped red and white, and the New Year's Eve song contest sets a Red team against a White team. Festival and celebration |
| Black | Nothing recorded yet | Mourners wear plain black, called mofuku, to funerals, and men add a black tie. Condolence money goes in an envelope tied with black and white cord. Mourning and death |
Customs vary by region, faith, generation and family. Each note links to its source on the country's own page.