The Colors of Christmas
By Rolo B. Cena
Pulp Bits

Have you ever tried to ask yourself why do we have so many colors during Christmas? Why do we have bright colored-decors hanging everywhere? Why do we have to wear bright-colored shirts during the season?

In one awesome moment, my son asked me why? All of a sudden, I also wondered why? Wow, I almost had my mental lapse that moment. It may sound naïve but the question made sense to kids. Right?

I met this middle-aged university professor in London in one of my regular annual training abroad. A holder of a Doctors Degree in Philosophy (Ph. D.), he told me that we only have three colors of Christmas (that’s what he told me - only red, gold, and green!). And I believe his idea of the three colors just make sense. So, I used this to satisfy the million-dollar question of my kid:

RED: This man told me that red symbolizes love. Notice that most Christmas cards that express love are colored red. Valentine’s cards are also colored red. The heart of Jesus is colored red. Red as the blood that runs through the veins in our heart – that’s it. Meaning, as in the old favorite lines: Love is in the air during the season. It’s time to forgive and forget, in fact. It’s even the time to make amends and greet long-lost enemies. Peace!

GOLD: Gold, he said, represents abundance; in some expression, this is treasure. Why? It’s all because the earthly mineral “gold” is literally colored gold, too. As precious as the gold, so is the color gold. Nowadays, Christmas is the season of abundance: Bonus, 13th month, cash gifts, etc. Not only that, we also acknowledge the fact that the mere presence of Christ Jesus in our lives is abundance. Our families, our friends, our works, and health are signs of abundance. Any single blessing is abundance.

GREEN: Green is life. As green as the leaves of the plants and trees so is life. This also, in some aspect, means content. Perpetually, we have to content with what we have; with what the Lord God is giving us. In life, we have to learn how to budget from small.

Then my son wondered why we have other colors apart from the red, gold, and green. I don’t want to sound absurd to my kid so I tried to be a philosopher myself. I added another three colors to the original idea and interpreted these colors in my own philosophical and biblical version: purple, silver, and blue.

PURPLE: This color is actually a royal color among the people in the olden days (yes, as in the Biblical age, darling!). This means, nobility. We acknowledge the “highness” of Christ Jesus as The One. We submit to his nobility being the King of Kings, and the Ultimate Ruler of our lives.

SILVER: Silver (or white) obviously means purity and happiness. We now acknowledge the purity of the intention of the Father in sending Christ Jesus to us. We, on the other hand, believe in the purity of other peoples’ hearts. We in fact show the purity of our hearts in dealing with others. When I say, purity of the “heart” this means the intention and the condition of our hearts when we give, say, or do something. Logically, when our intentions are pure, we are happy. When we decipher from the intentions of our fellowmen as pure, then we are happy.

BLUE: Most of us are experiencing economic deprivation today. Some people do not have in fact food for the Noche Buena; some families are celebrating Christmas in the absence of one member – a father, or a mother working abroad; or one member of the family is sick - these all, can be reasons to be blue (sad). I used to believe that blue cannot be a color of Christmas. Lately, I realized that, since this is just a cognitive framework and for as long as we believe that blue symbolizes peace, then, blue is internal and ethereal peace amidst adversities in our Christian lives – peace that can give us the synergy to move on, live lives according to the norms of Christ, and be firm in our resolves to meet the challenges of the modern day life. It is the same peace that draws “peace” from a brother; the same peace that radiates from a loved one.

Needless to say, we need to acknowledge the nobility of Christ Jesus in our lives by being contented with what we have, by showing love and compassion to the needy and the sick, by sharing abundance to others without forgetting the purity of our intentions so that the entire humanity can live in genuine peace, peace that the Noble and Holy One offers to the human race not just during Christmas but all through the years.

Others may say it’s not in the colors. But colors help. Colors attract positive vibration and can therefore bring good luck. Colors detonate madness and sadness and can bring about lively demeanor that can project positive vibration, too. Colors comfort the conditions of our hearts the moment our eyes see brilliant radiance as they enlighten heavy loads. Yes, colors are wonderful. The colors of Christmas are wonderful, too.

Published in December 24, 2006 Issue of Dumaguete Sunstar via Column of the same title. .