Blog post 1: Color- How It All Started

Have you ever stepped in a very dark room where there are no doors and windows? If not yet, then close your eyes. Does it make you feel inconspicuous? How about in a room so white that seem so spotless? Does it make you feel like you're in heaven? Or does it even give you a feeling of cleanliness and purity? Yes, colors affect us in countless ways- mentally and physically, and consciously and subconsciously. So when you are asked to enter a room painted with a certain color, you may have a roller-coaster of emotions depending on what color is set on your surroundings.

Colors are seen e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. From the farthest trees and clouds, down to the tip of every strand of your hair, there is color. Just imagine a world with no color. For sure, life would really be boring and there would be no excitement at all. It's just so amazing how colors came to life. But where did colors really came from? Is it something that man has made? Is it something that man has invented?

Well, honestly speaking, no. Color has already been there for us. Remember that the rainbow is one of the ten things that were created at twilight on the eve of the first Sabbath. To some articles that I've read, they find it considerable that man was color blind until Noah's generation. After the great flood, it was said that it was the first time that man had seen a rainbow.What man did was to discover it and give meanings for each hue in the rainbow.

As I was going through articles related to the origin of colors, I saw a certain article that seems so childish but was really informative. The website was www.crayola.com and the title was "Color- What is Color?" As defined, color is the aspect of things that is caused by differing qualities of light being reflected or emitted by them. Scientifically speaking, to be able to see color, you have to have light. When light shines on an object, some colors bounce off the object and others are absorbed by it. Our eyes only see the colors that are bounced off or reflected. The sun’s rays contain all the colors of the rainbow mixed together. This mixture is known as white light. When white light strikes a white crayon or marker barrel, it appears white to us because it absorbs no color and reflects all color equally. A black crayon or marker cap absorbs all colors equally and reflects none, so it looks black to us. While artists consider black a color, scientists do not because black is the absence of all color.

At the age of 23, Sir Isaac Newton started a study of color and developed the useful Newton color circle which gave insights about complementary colors and additive color mixing. He later realized that some colors such as magenta and purple could not be produced as spectral colors.He then demonstrated this fact with experiments on the dispersion of light in glass prisms. I find this experiment such an amazing one because it gave birth to the recognition of every gradation of color in the spectrum.

Some articles that I've read were about the Ancient Egyptian Mythology. The article described how color became an integral part of their history. It was said that in Ancient Egypt, the color of something was a clue to the substance or heart of the matter. In their art, colors served as clues to the nature of the beings depicted in the work.

The colors green (wadj),  red (desher), white (hedj and shesep), black (kem), yellow (khenet), and the Egyptian blue (irtiu) were the main focus of their myths. Every color represent different aspects and levels of power, attitude and way of thinking.

The color green represents vegetation and new life.
The color red was for life and victory.
The color white suggested omnipotence and purity.
The color black shows death and night.
The color yellow share the qualities of being eternal and indestructible.
The color blue symbolizes water and sky.

As I go on with my research, I have found different meanings of these colors, depending on the place and culture of a certain country. But why did I choose to discuss a bit about Ancient Egyptian Myths? Simply because somehow, it was a basis for how each color is given its representation. The meanings of colors that you can find today are somewhat related and similar with the ones of Egypt. Although color meanings differ from culture to culture, the Egyptian Myth was the first to use and give life to colors throughout history. Silly it may be, but the Egyptians were one of the first people to use color in depicting life.

These pieces of evidences I have shown about colors are just some of the parts of history. We may not have a "complete" set of information of when or where or how colors originated, but at least we do have proofs of its history. Let us appreciate every single detail of it for these are knowledge you can surely impart on other people, too. Start asking yourself. "When will I make my own history?" :)