Color Transforms: Transforming the Holidays

You see red and green. Quick! What do you think of? No need to answer, we can probably guess it for ourselves. First thing that came to mind was Christmas, right? We don’t need to be psychic to know because red and green are widely accepted as the representative colors of this holiday.

The fact that these two simple colors are able to convey an entire holiday to its viewers shows how much influence color has over our visual perception. Not only do we utilize color for aesthetic purposes, we also use it to relate to important traditions in our lives. But what happens when we dare to change these colors? If we change the official colors of Christmas, do we change our perception of Christmas tradition as well?

If you don’t know where I’m going with this, take a moment to think about Christmas decorations. When you picture the typical living room Christmas setup, what do you see? A green Christmas tree, probably with red spherical ornaments hanging on it, and red stockings hanging on the fire place. With this standard setting of Christmas interior design ingrained into our minds, we don’t realize how much we associate red and green with this holiday. We’ve come to accept these colors ever since we could remember celebrating our earliest Christmases. As a result, we ignore the fact that red and green have so much effect on us when it comes to the festive holiday and the interior design in one’s home.

Now, picture the same typical living room setup. Only this time, picture a white Christmas tree (such as the one below) with light pink and purple spherical ornaments hanging on it, and maybe even some bright blue stockings hanging on the fire place. Here, we are given the same exact items that are associated with Christmastime—a pine tree, ornaments, and stockings. However, when not presented with its typical representative colors, we are given a whole different image of not only interior design, but of Christmas.

So what does this mean? When we change the traditional colors of Christmas, are we really changing our perception of Christmas as well? For some, brighter and contemporary colors present a more modern twist on Christmas. As a result, one can say that changing the customary colors of Christmas reflects our desire to be innovative and “fresh”. Thus, we turn to the interior design trends of our century, even if it means rebelling against the traditional red and green.

So as the holidays draw closer, take a good look around you. You may not realize it now, but color has a strong influence over all of us. Changing one color can mean changing an entire holiday!