Shades of Meaning

Colors, shapes and patterns serve as cultural touchstones

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Color may be a universal tool of expression, but the stories it tells vary among different cultures. Here in Richmond, the region is filled with people from all over the world who share their apparel, art, food and traditions through events, businesses and nonprofit outreach.

Nunu El-jor, who owns Nunu’s Café in the West End, is from Lebanon and has been living in the United States for 31 years. She helps prepare delicacies for May’s Lebanese Food Festival, at Saint Anthony Maronite Church in Glen Allen. El-jor says that the festival’s Lebanese folk dancers wear three colors with significance to Lebanese culture: red, white and green, the colors in the country’s flag. “Red is the color of the blood of all the martyrs that have died for us to be free,” she says. “White is for the snow that covers the Lebanese mountains. And green is for the Lebanese cedar trees.” According to El-jor, the cedar tree that appears on the Lebanese flag represents strength and immortality. “The Lebanese are strong like cedar trees — they never die,” she says.

Sea and Sky

Richmond artist and first-generation Greek-American Theodora Miller says the blue and white of the Greek flag are iconic colors for her culture, because “they represent the sea and the sky” — two important forces in the Greek isles. “There is a lot of positivity assigned to these colors,” she says. White is particularly significant in Greek weddings, where, for example, guests break white plates, the bride and groom wear crowns bound together with white ribbon, and wedding cookies covered in powdered sugar are served — all to symbolize the life and resurrection of Christ that is central to the Greek Orthodox religion. At Easter, eggs are dyed not in the traditionally American pastels, but in a deep red to represent the blood of Christ, Miller says.

Religious beliefs also underpin the significance of color in the Muslim culture. Imad Damaj, founder and president of the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs, says, “In general, in the Muslim community, green is a favorite color.” He explains that traditionally, the prophet Mohammed favored green because it represents nature, or paradise. “So you will see green in mosques, in the dome or in the building in some way,” says Damaj, who also notes that the flags of most countries in the Middle East contain the color green for this reason. 

Janine Bell, director of Elegba Folklore Society, says red, black, green and gold are significant colors from African culture. “These colors cross the ocean from Africa to America,” she says, adding that many of the flags of African countries feature them. “Red represents the commonality of the blood that flows through African people everywhere,” she says. “Black represents the color of our skin. And green is for fertility of the land.” But fertility has layers of meaning — it also represents productivity and creativity. And gold is for the wealth of natural and human resources in Africa. “These colors are vibrant. Vibrance is life.”

Woven Wisdom 

In addition to colors, patterns play a significant role in African cultural expression. Bell says that in the West African country of Mali, the kanaga symbol that originated on masks is often included in textiles and mudcloth; it’s a symbol representing the connectivity of the physical world to the ancestral world. “Our ancestors want us to win, and they are whispering to us all day long, they want to lift us up. … they hoist us on their shoulders,” she says. She also explains that many African cultures weave patterns into their textiles as a way to teach mathematical equations and other lessons. Adinkra symbols, of the Asante people in Ghana, convey lessons of wisdom “and the honor that we find in our humility,” Bell says. 

Dave Brown of VCU’s Office of Multicultural Student Affairs explains how they host a Donning of the Kente ceremony during commencement activities to celebrate the achievements of black graduates, including a commemorative stole of kente fabric — traditionally colorful woven fabric from Ghana. He says the office also celebrates graduates who identify as LatinX — the gender-neutral designation for Latin American heritage — in a LatinX achievement ceremony, during which graduates wear colorful serape stoles as a nod to their Hispanic heritage. 

Life Milestones

Li Jian, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of East Asian Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, says that color in Asian culture “can be used to signify social status, religious beliefs or life milestones.” White, gray and red are prominent colors; for example, a commoner’s house usually has white walls and gray roof tiles, while red is used in Buddhist temples throughout East Asian cultures. Zen Buddhists, however, favor simplicity and colors of gray, white and earth tones, notes Jian. In honoring life milestones, a rose color is used to express loving relationships, and red is the celebratory color of weddings. Significant patterns are often incorporated into textiles and other home goods to convey cultural significance. “A round shape is related to heaven, and the square is related to the earth,” Jian says. The dragon image is popular across East Asian cultures as a symbol of power and authority, while the phoenix is the symbol of beauty and freedom. A peony represents prosperity and is often found in textiles, lacquered pieces, ceramics and architecture, according to Jian.

Sunny Baweja’s Short Pump restaurant, Lehja, is a testament to the significance of color in his homeland of India, which he says is arguably one of “the most colorful, vibrant communities in the world.” At Lehja, every wall color is significant and intentional — golds and reds to celebrate life, whites and beiges to calm and relax. He notes that the Hindu festival of Holi is a celebration dedicated to color and “a win of goodness over evil.” During Holi, crowds throw brightly colored powders that end up decorating revelers head to toe. “Even if there is darkness, the light will [shine through],” he says. And while many cultures wear black to express grief, in Baweja’s culture, white is the color of mourning. Why? “It represents peace,” he says. “It brings peace to your eyes, cools your mind.”