Colours in Mexico and Japan

Cochineal, a deep red dye made from insects that live on prickly pear cactus, was raised in Oaxaca long before the Spanish came. It became one of New Spain's most valuable exports.

The flag is green, white and red with an eagle on a cactus. Today the red is read as the blood of the national heroes, though it first stood for union.

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.

For the Day of the Dead, altars and graves are covered in orange marigolds, cempasuchil. Their colour and scent are said to guide the souls of the dead home.

On New Year's Eve many people wear yellow underwear to bring money in the year ahead, and red to bring love.

The green band of the flag is read as hope. When the colours were chosen in 1821 it stood for independence from Spain.

In the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mary wears a blue-green cloak covered in stars. Turquoise was precious to the Aztecs, who used it in mosaic masks.

Maya blue is a bright, lasting pigment made by heating indigo with a special clay. Maya painters used it on murals, pottery and offerings to the rain god.

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.

On Day of the Dead altars, purple cut-paper banners and candles stand for mourning, alongside the orange of the flowers.

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.

Rosa mexicano is a strong, hot pink. The designer Ramon Valdiosera made it known abroad in the 1940s, and it is seen in textiles, sweets and the walls of Luis Barragan's houses.

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.

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.

Red 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.

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.