#the-night-reader-writes — Public Fediverse posts

Every Conversation Matters: Festivals and Colours

We associate colours with festivals like Diwali, durgapuja, and navratri. The first colour that comes to our mind is orange. Sometimes it’s red. It’s never green. Why so? Do you know that Hariyali Teej is celebrated every year? The colour green is supposed to be worn on this day. It’s very important it’s green. There are many shades of green. Just like there are many shades of colors which can never be restricted to a color or a religion. During festivals, we assign certain colors to certain religions. Now, these associations are more prominent due to the misinformation. We also have extremist ideas surrounding our festivals.

Embrace all colours. Yellow,Orange, Red,Green,Pink,Blue are colours that should be part of every festival. Even when we celebrate Christmas, why do we only see Red or Maroon? Every commercial/every brand uses some actor,donning them with red sweaters with snowmen made on it and voila! Another colour (in this case a certain design as well) assigned to a festival. 

When I step out during Eid, I only see women wearing shades of green. Why don’t women wear yellow or orange? Festivals are celebrations. Nature is full of colors. These colors are not divided just because a wannabe Muslim leader has told you to dress a certain way.

Remember, you can divide colours and assign colors to a festival. A red rose is adorned with green leaves. Use it to decorate your entrance door with rangoli. Just add some yellow, red, or orange colours.

I leave you behind with a common festival. It has been celebrated by religions of all kinds, especially in the Indian subcontinent and particularly in India. This festival is Basant Panchami. The color often symbolizes wisdom. However, the religious text Quran restricted it. According to some scholars, it was prohibited for men to wear. 

Prohibitions and the division of colours allow fundamentalists to take advantage. There is a lack of knowledge about colours across many religions. Whether its Christianity, Sikhism, Islam, Hinduism or Judaism. 

Take all of them together and celebrate festivals,one will realise how beautiful every festival is.

This post is a part of ‘Feeling Festive Blog Hop’ hosted by Manali Desai and Sukaina Majeed under #EveryConversationMatters