Ania’s favourite colour is purple. She’s found some interesting facts about this pretty special colour. Read and you’ll know. By the way, what is your favourite colour?
Purple is a part of our everyday life. Look and you will see lots of purple around.
Here are some interesting facts about the purple color.
The ancient city of Phoenicia (on a Greek island) means Land of the Purple. This is believed to be where purple was first produced. It would be great to visit that Purple Land!
Do you know which animal purple originated from? – The tropical sea snail called the murex. The mucus of the murex was used to make purple. The snail is known as the murex but its Latin name was purpura, which gave us the word purple.
As for the legend purple was discovered when Hercules’s dog bit into a murex snail and noticed a new colour staining the mouth of the dog.
The purple color is is the color most associated with power and royalty. Purple dye was historically very expensive and incredibly hard to come by. Therefore, allowing only the rich and powerful to garnish it. “Born to the purple” meaning born into a royal or noble family. In ancient Rome only the emperor and his family could wear purple and gold clothes. Now when you wear purple you can feel royal too!
The purple color can have an affect on people physically:
- Calms the nerves and the mind
- Uplifting
- Offers creativity
- Encourages spirituality
Purple Day was founded by Cassidy Megan, aged nine, of Nova Scotia, in 2008 in Canada. Cassidy Megan motivated Purple Day by her own struggles with epilepsy. The goal of the day is to increase awareness and empower individuals living with epilepsy to take action in their communities. Purple Day is on March 26th.
The date for Purple Day is enshrined in Canadian Law under the Purple Day Act that was passed in 2012.
The film The Color Purple (1985) received 11 Oscar nominations without winning a single award.
Purple Rain (1984) won the only Oscar for which it was nominated: best original song score.
Shades of purple and violet can relax and stimulate us at the same time. Violet often represents relaxation.
Purple is often favoured by artists, designers and musicians because it stimulates creativity.
Daydreams are more likely when you’re surrounded by purple, which in turn can stimulate imagination.
The Purple Heart is awarded to soldiers that have been wounded or killed during action. This purple honor was established by George Washington in 1782.
Purple is a non-spectral color. It is not one of the colors on the visible spectrum and does not have its own wavelength of light.
There are some shades of purple. They are lavender, lilac, mauve, indigo, eggplant, plum, violet, orchid, pomegranate, puce.
February is the lucky month to claim the purple birthstone. This stone is called the Amethyst.
Ania, very interesting facts. I love purple too.
People who love purple are intelligent and sharp. They have an eye for detail and notice even those things that are mostly overlooked by others. Purple lovers are very creative and have a refined taste.
Here are some more facts about purple.
Carrots were once purple, red, white or yellow. Orange carrots were bred by the Dutch in the 16th century to honour the royal House of Orange.
Purple is the colour for epilepsy awareness because of the association with lavender, which is a traditional herbal treatment for the disease.
I really liked the facts about purple. I did not know that the violet color has so many different shades. And my favorite color is dark blue and red
Veronika, it would be great if you find interesting facts either about dark blue or red colors.
My favorite color is purple too. In my opinion it’s a very beautiful color!
As for me, it was interesting to learn some surprising facts about purple. But I don’t like this color and I don’t know why.
I’m very happy that you liked my story