Interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung from 20.12.2020
ATTENTION, RED (Science section, series title: Off into Botany)
Text excerpt: “The red of the bracts is as obtrusive and exaggerated as the whole rampant cultivation of those shrubs from western Central America, where they can reach heights of five meters and more. This color is called Christmas red, and it’s hard to escape it. Whether candles, Christmas tree baubles, Santa Clauses, tablecloths and, more recently, mouth and nose covers. I can only see red. This red is much older than Coca-Cola; it was already popular in the 19th century, as postcards show. Santa Claus and the poinsettia only came to us later across the Atlantic. The color red probably symbolizes St. Nicholas of Myra, a bishop who died on December 6 in the fourth century. A second explanation for the trend towards red symbolism at Christmas makes it much older. Red has been the color of life and fertility for fifty thousand years, explains Axel Buether, color psychologist at the University of Wuppertal.”
Author: Andreas Frey
