Purple & Violet (colors)

Purple has strong associations with royalty, power, and prestige. The reasoning behind these associations comes from the color’s long history as a luxury item: In the ancient Mediterranean, the only source of purple dye was a family of sea snails known as Murex. Extracting the pigment from the snails was a highly involved process, and creating any substantial amount of dye required an enormous quantity of the creatures. The resulting color (known as Tyrian Purple, after the city of Tyre in modern-day Lebanon), was therefore very expensive, affordable only to the upper classes of many societies. This gave rise to phrases such as “born to the purple”, indicating a wealthy/distinguished lineage.

Violet is commonly associated with temperance and humility. As an amalgam of red and blue, it symbolizes a middle ground between fiery passion (red) and cool detachment (blue). The expression “shrinking violet” indicates shyness or modesty, and actually refers to the violet flower, not the color itself; since the blossom is small and grows close to the ground, it presents a very humble appearance:

DISCLAIMER: THIS LIST OF SPECIFIC CULTURAL EXAMPLES IS LIMITED AND SELECTIVE (MORE WILL COME).

ENGLAND: During the 19th and early 20th Centuries, periods of mourning were characterized by strict rules detailing what clothing could be worn when- especially among the upper classes. Mourning periods could last for months or even years, depending on circumstances, and black clothing had to be worn for the first part of that time. Later on, a period known as “half mourning” would be entered, and clothing could be worn in shades of purple, violet, and grey.

INDIA: in Hinduism and Buddhism, purple is the color of the Sahasrara Chakra, one of seven energetic points situated along the body. Located at the crown of the head, this chakra governs pure consciousness and higher thought. In some versions, this chakra is white, and the preceding one (the Ajna, located in the center of the forehead) is colored purple, with indigo removed from the scheme entirely.