ROBES-DE-NUIT

Waipa Post, Volume 31, Issue 1776, 29 June 1926, Page 6

ROBES-DE-NUIT

WtHY THEY ARE WHITE.

r ,j -.“‘lt -is a curious fact, and may interest our women, that white has always been used for nightdresses, because our sleeping bodies are then at the mercy of the spirits—mostly evil ones, of course!” So runs a selection culled by the Weekly Scotsman from Popular Superstitions, by Charles Platt. “Fancy coloured pyjamas are popular nowadays, but the age-old superstition has an immense hold upon us still. Without .doubt,, the popularity of white for the bride is due to the same cause. Blue, as the primitive people knew it, was of the sky—a pale or medium tone. There are not many flowers of the forget-me-not type. The phrase 'ln the blues/ as representing depression, does not refer to this oldtime clear blue, but to the deep purples.

“Yellow is naturally a stimulating colour, and in olden days was considered emblematic of the sun. For this reason, it was assumed that it would not be welcome to the Fairies, who invariably prefer dusk or dawn—the gentle half-lights. It is a colour that stimulates mental activity, and in its orange tones is both healthy and emotional. It does not, however, carry the taint of lust in its emotion, as with red. In these warmer climates it signifies jealouisy, or even treason. Red —the colour of blood—is known medically to excite; it is characteristic of life and movement; it is essentially provocative.

“From the red we pass to the innocent isensuousness of pink; orange with its healthy and wholesome feeling, and the wisdom and intelligence of yellow; green gives us hope, animation, versatility, and so to the truth, constancy—and composure by blue; music and ideality of indigo, and the devotion, religion, success, and, renown of purple.”