CAZine

by: Bay

The color green is most commonly found in nature. For this reason, perhaps, it is known to be a color that calms the nerves. Before appearing on television, for instance, it is customary to wait in the “green room,” which is thought to help you relax so as to ease “stage-fright.” The color green, in particular softer and lighter tones, are very popular in interior decorating for the same calming properties.

The color green is also associated with fertility, likely because most healthy plants are green. In the middle ages, brides were married in green dresses in hopes that they would be fertile in marriage. The fertility symbolism is sometimes stretched even to the point of promiscuity in some cultures. For example, in China, men seldom wear green hats because of an old cultural idea that if a man wears a green hat, it symbolizes that his wife is cheating on him.

Green is often associated with magic. Witches, for instance, usually are shown as having green skin. This may be due to the association with faeries in early English folklore.

Green is also associated with sickness and poison. This is probably because of several reasons. Many poisonous reptiles and amphibians are bright green, for instance. This may be why the color is associated with poison, or, more accurately, venom. The color is probably associated with sickness because it is common for people to take on a greenish tinge when they are ill.

All in all, green is calming, but can be associated with negative things. It can be taken in many different ways, depending on who is interpreting it.