why are christmas colors red and green?

Have you ever wondered why Christmas colors are red and green? Or is it just me? I went to a couple of websites to try and find the answer to this question.

First I went to NPR and read How Red and Green Became the Colors of Christmas. Then I read an article on the Country Living website called The History of Christmas Colors – and Why They’re Red and Green – Is Actually Fascinating (am I the only person thinking that is a really long article title?). According to the articles, one of the reasons that red and green became such popular Christmas colors is because of the holly plant. The Romans and the Celtics would use holly during their winter solstice celebrations. The ancient Celtic people believed that holly plants brought beauty and prosperity during the wintertime and would decorate their homes with the red and green plants. Over time, this tradition of putting up holly transformed into hanging red and green decorations.

But’s that not to say that there is not a religious aspect to Christmas colors. Some Christians believe that the colors signify Jesus’ crown – that the red berries represent Jesus’ blood while the holly leaves represent his thorny crown.

But the main reason red and green are Christmas colors, according to the articles, is because of Coca-Cola. In 1931, Coca-Cola hired an artist to create an image of Santa Claus to use for their marketing. The artist created the Santa Claus we all know today – jolly and fat and wearing red robes. He was drawn so that his red robes were the same color as the Coca-Cola logo and the surrounding verbiage on the ads was a rich green color. The advertisements cemented the image of Santa Claus in his red suit surrounded by green holly and fir trees and this Santa interpretation is the one we all recognize now.

This Reader’s Digest article, What Are the Christmas Colors and What Do They Mean?, posits that the history of how the Christmas colors came to be is a lot like Christmas itself: rooted in religious tradition, modernized by capitalism, and maintained by feelings of joy and happiness. I think that is my favorite explanation!