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Red is the color of passion, of powerful emotions that affect us all in our daily lives. It is a color that stands out, that doesn’t hide, that boldly announces itself. Nowhere is the power and drama of red clearer than in Italian opera, where the color explains all of the lofty feelings present in almost every libretto. Opera stories are never told without adding love, innocence, war and death. Innocence is displayed by the blush of the first kiss. A red heart is emblematic of love. Revolutionary wars are led by red-colored flags, the symbols of revolution. And operatic death makes scarlet blood flow on the stage.
Red was the color used by the artists of ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians, who employed it to emphasize chapter headings on the writings found on their papyrus, as well as to color the three thousand year old royal robes discovered in the tombs of the kings. Henna was used by the Pharaohs to stain fingers and toes to improve their awareness of the earth’s energies.
When Julius Caesar sought to distinguish himself as first among equals in the Roman Senate, he wore a red toga, angering the other, white-clad Senators. The power of his red toga was part of the cause of his death at their hands.
In a more recent political venue, the wives of American presidents and female U.S. Senators oftenwear dresses of a shocking red color in public appearances as a way of standing apart from the boring black and grey suits worn by their male colleagues.
Never mind that a fighting bull is color blind, Spanish toreadors use a red cape to invite it to charge, creating the excitement and drama that has made bullfighting the country’s national sport.
Red also adds drama and interest to food. Try to imagine a meal being served that is uniformly brown in color, a meal without some red vegetables garnishing a plate of otherwise possibly delicious but boring looking food. Food that is red not only enlivens the presentation of the dish but also adds powerfully to its taste and nutrition. Tomatoes spend most of their lives growing up green, but it is when they turn red that they are in great demand by food lovers.
Cherries & strawberries contain “phytochemicals” that have been shown to improve memory.
Similarly, scientists have discovered the gene present in apples that makes them a perfect red color, a color that, according to surveys, increases the purchaser’s desire to buy. The compound that gives vegetables their red color is also an anti-oxidant, which helps resist cancer while maintaining healthy cell life in humans.
Cherries and strawberries contain “phytochemicals” that have been shown to improve memory. Nutritionists and medical researchers constantly urge people to eat several servings of vegetables each day, and it is no accident that vegetables that are red in color are the ones most frequently suggested, such as cherries, red kidney beans, tomatoes, red peppers, watermelons, apples, beets, radishes, and strawberries.
Growing up in Syria, my sister and I were forbidden to wear makeup. We found a way around this rule, however, by employing a flower that grows in many countries, including Syria. Before bedtime, we rubbed it on our lips and added a smaller amount to our cheeks. We protected the pillow from the color with a special towel we kept hidden, and the next morning both our parents and our teachers tried in vain to erase the red color that we had applied the night before.
We were ordered to wash our faces, but the pigment would not come off, and we explained to our teachers that the reason was because it was our natural color.
Credits
by Sanaa Abourezk
