Purple and violet

In Holy Week, members of religious brotherhoods walk in procession in robes and pointed hoods, many of them purple, the colour of penance. A purple band also marked the flag of the Second Republic.

Suffragettes campaigning for women's votes wore purple, white and green: purple for dignity, white for purity and green for hope.

A child born to a reigning Byzantine emperor was called porphyrogennetos, born in the purple. The birth took place in a palace room lined with purple stone.

In the elections of 2005, voters dipped a finger in purple ink to prevent double voting. The stained finger, held up for cameras, became a sign of the vote.

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.

The Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon made Tyrian purple from sea snails. The dye was so costly that it became the colour of kings and Roman emperors.

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

A cabinet that joins the red Labour Party with the blue liberals is called paars, purple. The first purple coalition governed from 1994.

October is the purple month. Followers of the Lord of Miracles, a painting of Christ in Lima, wear purple habits with a white cord all month and walk in vast processions.

Purple is traditionally the colour a widow wears in mourning, so some people avoid it at happy events. It is also Saturday's colour in the weekday scheme.

Tanzanite, a blue-violet gemstone, is found in only one small area near Mount Kilimanjaro. It was named after the country by the jeweller Tiffany in 1968.

The Purple Heart is the medal given to members of the armed forces wounded or killed in action. It is a purple heart with a profile of George Washington.

Bishops wear a red-purple shade called amaranth. Priests wear violet vestments in Advent and Lent, the seasons of waiting and penance.

Purple is tied to the old capital, Hue, where schoolgirls and women were known for violet ao dai. In songs and poems it is the colour of faithful, wistful love.