Revealing colours – red

Red symbolises love, passion and life in many cultures. At the same time, in religious and historical contexts, it is also associated with protection, sacrifice and power.

A symbol of sexuality and the colour of libido.
In prehistoric times, red powder was sprinkled beside the dead during burial rituals. In ancient belief, red was also thought to have apotropaic power, protecting people from demons and danger.

The ancient Egyptians painted trees, cattle and possessions red to protect them from fire and other harm, and to promote fertility.
In Jewish tradition, doorposts were marked with the blood of sacrificial lambs to protect homes from the destroying angel during the Ten Plagues.
In Greece, the dead were covered with a red cloth, symbolically marking them as a sacrifice so they could enter the realm of the underworld.
In antiquity, red expressed affection, love and passion. In Rome, brides wore a flame-red veil known as the flammeum.
Red also symbolises strength, fire and power.
In Jewish and Christian tradition, it is associated with solemnity and majesty.
In the New Testament, red is linked with sin, atonement, penance and sacrifice.
Its negative symbolism is connected with carnal passion; scarlet is the colour associated with the “Whore of Babylon”.

As the colour of red-light districts, red is associated with prostitution.
It symbolises the alchemists’ furnace and the third stage of the “Great Work”.
In European folk traditions, the red Easter egg symbolises fertility.