What the Color Yellow Symbolizes

Colors aren't just for decoration, they're also used to provoke a certain response from the viewer. Just as white is typically worn at weddings to symbolize purity and black at a funeral to symbolize death, most other colors have their own symbolism associated with them. Yellow is perhaps one of the most diverse colors in terms of what it can represent.

Supporting the Military

For decades, yellow has been the traditional color displayed by those who wish to support the military. From songs like "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree" to stickers seen in the back windows of cars, yellow has come to symbolize not just patriotism but the support of the men and women of the armed forces.

Medicine Wheel

On the Native American medicine wheel East is always represented by the color yellow. This signifies illumination and beginning---the sun rises in the east, and with the sun comes a new awakening and new growth.

Yellow Ribbons

Awareness ribbons are a common sight, symbols of a number of social causes and concerns. Pale yellow ribbons symbolize the fight against spinal bifida, while a darker yellow ribbon is symbolic of POW/MIAs, adoptive parents, Amber Alerts and bladder-cancer awareness. It also signifies that a friend or family member has committed suicide.

Yellow Roses

The meaning of yellow roses has changed significantly over the years. While it symbolized jealousy in Victorian England, yellow roses now represent joy, gladness, hope and happy occasions. They're typically given for happy events, including graduations and birthdays. They're also frequently seen around Easter, traditionally a time of rebirth and hope.

Third Chakra

In the table of the seven chakras, the third is the solar plexus, represented by the color yellow. It is thought to govern the digestive tract and to be responsible for a person's feelings of trust, fear, guilt, self-confidence and level of self-worth. It is also thought that this is where a person's honor resides.

Cowardice

Yellow is also representative of cowardice and dishonor, as seen in Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment." Yellow is depicted as showing everything that his main character has done that is dishonorable and wrong. Yellow is also shown to be a less than honorable color in the term yellow journalism---the manufacture of a scandal by the press for monetary gain.

References

• Spiritual Network Index
• Trinity London awareness ribbons
• Teleflora rose colors

Resources

• Spiritual Network Index