Red, green, orange, purple, blue, brown, black, and white, these are the decorated colors of holidays. For as long as time, red and green have been the associated colors for Christmas, but few recognize how these complementary colors became the chosen color palette for the popular holiday. 

According to Southern Living, holiday colors like red and green came from ancient winter solstice traditions. These traditions determined a holiday’s color based on the symbolic meaning of natural elements present during the winter. For example, evergreen trees and holly. Against the harsh winter, the deep green hue of evergreens represented eternal life and resilience while the intense red of holly berries symbolized life, good fortune, and renewal. The ancient Celtics believed that holly kept the Earth beautiful during winter, so they decorated their homes with it during winter solstice celebrations to bring good fortune to their families. 

The Christmas colors soon took on a novel religious meaning: Red came to symbolize the blood of Jesus Christ while green represented the eternal life of the evergreen tree which stays green all throughout winter. According to TODAY, the two colors also represent the leaves and holly berries embodying the crown of thorns upon Jesus’s head on the cross. 

Many years later, Haddon Sundblom, the illustrator behind Coca-Cola’s Santa Claus ads, solidified red and green as Christmas colors because of the 1931 advertising campaign. According to the Christmas Loft, Santa, before Cocoa-Cola’s ads, often appeared dressed in a variety of colors far from the signature red suit he is depicted wearing today. Due to the immense popularity of the Santa Claus image, the colors soon became the standard and were cemented into the definitive colors of Christmas. 

While red and green are the complementary colors for Christmas, each holiday is represented by its own color palette. Halloween, for example, is represented by orange and black, sometimes even purple. According to Board and Brush, orange and black are the associated colors of Halloween due to their symbolism of the season’s harvest and the coming of winter along with a connection to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. Orange represents the harvest season: fallen leaves, ripe produce, and the color of pumpkins. Black, on the other hand, symbolizes the coming of winter: darkness, death, and the night. Together, the two colors are said to represent the duality of life and death, light and darkness which is central to the folkloric holiday. Purple was added soon after because of its association with witchcraft and the supernatural. Historically being an expensive color, purple was associated with royalty which added a sense of grandeur and mystery to the commercialized Halloween colors. 

While holiday colors are used to decorate homes, reflect seasonal themes, and evoke emotions, each holiday and every associated color comes with a backstory based on history, symbolism, and representation, sometimes even Coca-Cola.