Colours in South Africa and Japan

Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters wear red overalls and red berets, in parliament as well as at rallies, to show that they speak for workers.

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.

The flag used from 1928 to 1994 was orange, white and blue, after the old Dutch Prince's Flag. It is now tied to the apartheid years, and displaying it has been ruled hate speech.

Green and gold are the sporting colours. The Springboks, the national rugby team, play in a dark green jersey with a gold collar.

The six colours of the flag adopted in 1994 have no official meanings. Black, green and gold echo the African National Congress, and red, white and blue the older Boer and British flags.

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.

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.

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.

Xhosa boys going through initiation into manhood cover their bodies in white clay while they live apart from the village. It is washed off when they return as men.

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.

In many Black communities a widow wears black clothes for up to a year after her husband's death, and puts them off at a family ceremony.

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.

The black, green and gold of the African National Congress stand for the people, the land and the mineral wealth under it.