- 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.