Colour and emotion
The colours of courage
Red and saffron stand for courage in flags, uniforms and medals, from Rajput and Sikh saffron to Maasai red and the Purple Heart.
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Courage is most often red, the colour of blood, and in India saffron, the colour of fire and sacrifice. National flags on every continent explain their red stripe as the blood of those who fought. Soldiers have worn red from Sparta to the British redcoats, and Maasai warriors wear it today. This is a matter of custom and history. No study shows that a colour makes anyone braver. English adds two colours for the opposite: a coward is yellow, or shows a white feather.
What studies find
Researchers have not studied courage and colour directly. The nearest work concerns red and dominance. Hill and Barton's 2005 paper found a small edge for Olympic fighters dressed in red, and later studies disagree about whether the effect is real or lies in the eyes of referees. The 2025 review by Jonauskaite and Mohr found red, and to a lesser degree purple, linked to feelings of power. Beyond that the field is empty. Lists that give each heraldic colour a virtue, with red for the warrior, are mostly later inventions and were never a fixed medieval code. Courage has colours because people gave them to it.
In language
In Stephen Crane's 1895 novel The Red Badge of Courage, the badge is a wound. English calls a coward 'yellow' or 'yellow-bellied', and 'lily-livered', pale in the liver, comes from Shakespeare. To 'show the white feather' is to show fear, a phrase from cockfighting. Chinese praises 'a red gall and a loyal heart' (chidan zhongxin), the gall bladder being the seat of courage. In Hindi and Punjabi the patriotic song 'Mera rang de basanti chola', dye my robe the yellow of spring, is tied to the freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and to readiness for sacrifice. Kesariya, saffron, carries the same meaning in Rajasthani song.
Around the world
In India saffron is the colour of courage and sacrifice. Rajput warriors are said to have put on saffron robes for a last battle, and the top band of the national flag is commonly read the same way. Sikh flags, the Nishan Sahib, are saffron or deep yellow, and Nihang warriors wear dark blue. The Natyashastra gives vira, the heroic mood, a fair golden colour, and Kathakali paints its noble heroes green. In Japan the Ii clan sent its samurai into battle in red lacquered armour. Maasai warriors wear red. Indonesia explains its flag as red for courage and white for purity.
Where it is used
Medals carry these colours on their ribbons. Britain's Victoria Cross hangs from a crimson ribbon. The Purple Heart of the United States, given to those wounded or killed in service, takes its colour from a cloth badge created by George Washington in 1782. Fire engines, lifeboats and lifeguards are red and orange, partly to be seen and partly by tradition. Comic book heroes wear red capes and boots. Political movements pick saffron, red or orange to claim boldness. During the First World War, women in Britain handed white feathers to men not in uniform to accuse them of cowardice, which shows how sharply a colour code can be turned on people.
Courage in colour, place by place
Saffron, kesariya, stands for courage and sacrifice. Rajput warriors are said to have worn saffron for a final battle, and Sikh flags are saffron or deep yellow.
In Kathakali dance drama of Kerala, a green painted face (pacha) marks noble and heroic characters such as gods and virtuous kings.
The samurai of the Ii clan fought in red lacquered armour from the late sixteenth century and were known as the 'red devils'.
Maasai warriors wear red cloth and red ochre. Red is described as the colour of bravery, strength and the blood of cattle.
The Purple Heart is awarded to service members wounded or killed in action. Its colour comes from a purple cloth badge created by George Washington in 1782.
The red and white national flag is explained as red for courage and white for purity.
During the First World War, women handed white feathers to men out of uniform as an accusation of cowardice.
From the table of meanings
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo wore white headscarves as they marched to demand news of children who disappeared under the dictatorship of 1976 to 1983.
Politics and protestMourning and deathCourageSource: Mothers of Plaza de MayoThe flag is red, white and red. Legend says Duke Leopold V's white tunic was soaked in blood at the siege of Acre, all but the band under his belt.
Politics and protestCourageSource: Flag of AustriaThe flag is red, yellow and green: red for the blood of the country's soldiers, yellow for its mineral wealth and green for the richness of its land.
Politics and protestCourageSource: Flag of BoliviaA white, red and white flag was the state flag in 1918 and again from 1991 to 1995. It became the banner of the opposition in the protests of 2020.
Politics and protestCourageSource: White-red-white flagThe 26th of July Movement, which Fidel Castro led to power in 1959, flew a red and black flag. It still appears beside the national flag on public holidays.
Politics and protestCourageSource: 26th of July MovementIn the last part of a bullfight the matador uses a small red cape, the muleta. Bulls do not see red as we do. It is the movement that draws them, and the colour hides the blood.
Danger and warningCourageSource: BullfightingThe red band of the flag is read as the blood shed in defending the country. Ethiopia was never colonised, and its green, yellow and red were taken up by many new African states.
Politics and protestCourageSource: Pan-African coloursThe red Phrygian cap, a soft cap with the tip pulled forward, became the sign of liberty in the Revolution. Marianne, the figure of the Republic, still wears it.
Politics and protestCourageSource: Phrygian capSuffragettes campaigning for women's votes wore purple, white and green: purple for dignity, white for purity and green for hope.
Politics and protestCourageSource: SuffragetteThe flag is blue over red. Tradition says Jean-Jacques Dessalines made it in 1803 by tearing the white band out of the French tricolour.
Politics and protestCourageSource: Flag of HaitiThe flag is called Sang Saka Merah Putih, the Red and White. Red is commonly read as courage and white as purity. It was raised at the declaration of independence in 1945.
Politics and protestCouragePrideSource: Flag of IndonesiaThe green stripe of the flag stands for the older Gaelic and Catholic tradition. Green was the colour of the United Irishmen, whose 1798 rising is recalled in the song The Wearing of the Green.
Politics and protestCourageSource: Flag of IrelandSaffron is the colour of renunciation, worn by Hindu sadhus, holy men who have given up worldly life. The top band of the national flag is saffron, which stands for strength and courage.
Sacred and holyPolitics and protestCourageSource: Saffron (color)The black in the flag stands for the strength and creativity of the people. Marcus Garvey's Pan-African flag of red, black and green is also widely flown.
Politics and protestCourageSource: Pan-African flagColours that carry courage
More colours our sources tie to courage
Sources and further reading
- Courage on Wikipedia
- Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage (1895), Project Gutenberg
- Hill and Barton, Red enhances human performance in contests (Nature, 2005)
- Jonauskaite and Mohr, Do we feel colours? A systematic review of 128 years of research (Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 2025)
Original text by the Rang desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Meanings of colour vary from place to place and person to person. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Onyx: Simon Eugster -- Simon 14:41, 11 April 2006 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Red: Politikaner, CC BY-SA 3.0, source