The Liturgical Colour Orange and Creation TimeAlthough it feels as if we are introducing a new liturgical colour, we may envision Creation Time and its colour orange not as the next new flavour in public worship, but as an important recapturing of an ancient Christian liturgical way of being that we have lost—and lost at great peril.
History
Orange was:
• the Early Christian colour for confessors, monastics, and matrons
• worn in some Russian churches during summer fasts; in Western rites, some mainline Protestant churches propose orange as a colour for fall
• some Orthodox Churches use scarlet, orange, or rust
Symbolism/Psychology
• symbolic of endurance and strength
• colour of fire and flame
• the red of passion tempered by the yellow of wisdom
• colour of harvest, fruitfulness, joy
• colour of positive energy
• colour of change
• mentally stimulating
• very easy to see
• a bridge between two opposing factors: heat of summer and cool of winter
• adventurous, confident colour
• said to be the colour of excitement
• a sociable colour reflecting warmth and cheerful feelings
• nature’s “last burst of life” before the dormancy of winter
• psychologists have found that showing the colour orange to people has a positive effect on hormone levels
• a colour of healthy produce that intensifies when cooked
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What does the colour orange convey/mean to you? How does it connect with "creation"?
