Red
Modern surveys in Europe and the United States show red is also the color most commonly associated with heat, activity, passion, sexuality, anger, love, and joy.
[16] At sunrise and sunset, when the path of the sunlight through the atmosphere to the eye is longest, the blue and green components are removed almost completely, leaving the longer wavelength orange and red light.
The remaining reddened sunlight can also be scattered by cloud droplets and other relatively large particles, which give the sky above the horizon its red glow.
[29] Because of public concerns about possible health risks associated with synthetic dyes, many companies have switched to using natural pigments such as carmine, made from crushing the tiny female cochineal insect.
[30] In autumn forests they appear vivid in the maples, oaks, sourwood, sweetgums, dogwoods, tupelos, cherry trees and persimmons.
These same pigments often combine with the carotenoids' colors to create the deeper orange, fiery reds, and bronzes typical of many hardwood species.
[34] Plants like apples, strawberries, cherries, tomatoes, peppers, and pomegranates are often colored by forms of carotenoids, red pigments that also assist photosynthesis.
[39] For example, in mandrills, red coloration of the face is greatest in alpha males, increasingly less prominent in lower ranking subordinates, and directly correlated with levels of testosterone.
[41] In humans, wearing red has been linked with increased performance in competitions, including professional sport[42][43] and multiplayer video games.
[48] Inside cave 13B at Pinnacle Point, an archeological site found on the coast of South Africa, paleoanthropologists in 2000 found evidence that, between 170,000 and 40,000 years ago, Late Stone Age people were scraping and grinding ochre, a clay colored red by iron oxide, probably with the intention of using it to color their bodies.
A different variety of dye was made from Porphyrophora hamelii (Armenian cochineal) scale insects that lived on the roots and stems of certain herbs.
[54] Egyptian women used red ochre as a cosmetic to redden cheeks and lips[55] and also used henna to color their hair and paint their nails.
[57] Beginning in the Middle Ages, the Pope and Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church wore red to symbolize the blood of Christ and the Christian martyrs.
[53]: 36 In Renaissance painting, red was used to draw the attention of the viewer; it was often used as the color of the cloak or costume of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or another central figure.
In Venice, Titian was the master of fine reds, particularly vermilion; he used many layers of pigment mixed with a semi-transparent glaze, which let the light pass through, to create a more luminous color.
The painter Johannes Vermeer skilfully used different shades and tints of vermilion to paint the red skirt in The Girl with the Wine Glass, then glazed it with madder lake to make a more luminous color.
In Latin America, the Aztec people, the Paracas culture and other societies used cochineal, a vivid scarlet dye made from insects.
In Paris in 1832, a red flag was carried by working-class demonstrators in the failed June Rebellion (an event immortalised in Les Misérables), and later in the 1848 French Revolution.
[57] Beginning in the Middle Ages, the Pope and Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church wore red to symbolize the blood of Christ and the Christian martyrs.
In fact, teachers at a primary school in the UK have been told not to mark children's work in red ink because it encourages a "negative approach".
[4]: 60 Red by a large margin is the color most commonly associated with seduction, sexuality, eroticism and immorality, possibly because of its close connection with passion and with danger.
"[78] In the New Testament, in the Book of Revelation, the Antichrist appears as a red monster, ridden by a woman dressed in scarlet, known as the Whore of Babylon.
Officers and NCOs of those regiments which previously wore red retain scarlet as the color of their "mess" or formal evening jackets.
Scarlet is worn for some full dress, military band or mess uniforms in the modern armies of a number of the countries that made up the former British Empire.
These include the Australian, Jamaican, New Zealand, Fijian, Canadian, Kenyan, Ghanaian, Indian, Singaporean, Sri Lankan and Pakistani armies.
Among European notable club teams most often playing at home in red shirts include Bayern Munich, Benfica, Liverpool, Manchester United and Roma.
George Foreman wore the same red trunks he used during his loss to Muhammad Ali when he defeated Michael Moorer 20 years later to regain the title he lost.
[95]: 13–20 Many former colonies of Spain, such as Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, also feature red-one of the colors of the Spanish flag-on their own banners.
Several African countries thus use the color on their flags, including South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Ethiopia, Togo, Guinea, Benin, and Zimbabwe.
During the French Revolution, the Jacobins also adapted the red Phrygian cap, and forced the deposed King Louis XVI to wear one after his arrest.
