On Monday 26 April 2004 05:02 pm, J Y S Czhang wrote:
> In a message dated 2004:04:26 01:03:07 AM, "uaxuctum" writes:
>
> >White is an epitome of purity in all cultures.* In fact,
> >white is perceived as such a pure and unmixed a colour
> >that when scientists realized that white light could
> >be decomposed through a prism into chromatic lights by
> >separating the different wavelengths of the spectrum,
> >there were people who opposed the idea saying that it
> >was a heresy against the purity of white.
>
> * IMO not "all" - Beware of sweeping generalizations when it comes to
> cultural anthropology!
>
> In quite a number of cultures, white is the colour of skulls & bone(s),
> mourning, death, etc. In many older southern Chinese and Asian
jungle-dwelling
> tribal cultures, jade is the colour of purity and of talismanic
> power/protection - hence IMHO the modern-day Southern Chinese obsession with
jade jewelry.
> But, of course, due to the in-roads "Westernization" has made, having a
> "white wedding" or "American-style wedding" is so _tres chic_ - esp'ly in
Hong
> Kong, Singapore, etc. esp'ly amongst the educated middle and upper classes.
> Ditto in Japan - ever since the American Occupation after WWII - an even
more
> extensive level/amount...
A slightly related thought
Has anyone ever done a survey for a possible correlation between the color of
mourning (white or black) vs treatment of the dead (cremation or burial)?
On the other hand, the availability of dyes and fabrics in the appropriate
colors may also be a factor...
--
Elyse Grasso
The World of Cherani Station
www.data-raptors.com/cherani/index.html
Cherani Tradespeech
www.data-raptors.com/cherani/tradespeech.html