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Purple Day
Mar 26
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"Plucky performers in purple ghillies, poised and proud purveyors of precision, partake in the passionate play of Scottish country dances, executing poussettes and promenades perfectxly, perpetuating proud traditions with palpable enthusiasm!"
Goodness Gracious and Tyrian Purple Pipers! If you can say the above phrase easily, congratulations on executing the dreaded "purple alliteration", the grammarians' name for an alliterative phrase focussing on the letter "p". And speaking of purple, are any these your favourite colours: Lavender, Amethyst, Plum, Violet, Mauve, Eggplant, Lilac, Magenta, Tyrian Purple, Royal Purple, Indigo, Heather, Orchid, Grape, Byzantium, or Fuchsia? Well then, today is your day and a good day for a purple party! Once reserved only for royalty and the clergy, purple became a popular shade after the invention of chemical dyes in the late 19th century, leading to craze of purple and mauve in dress and decor. So satisfy your terpischorean purple inclinations today with this fun jig to brighten up a purple rainy day. And if you have anything in your wardrobe of purple, any shade, including purple ghillies (and some do have them!), this is the day to wear it well! 😉 💜 💜 💜
Purple Rain
Purple Day is a day for the celebration of this unique colour as well as is the designated colour for Epilepsy and Alzheimer's Awareness Days.
This rare hue has been one of the most coveted and expensive colours throughout history - signifying wealth and power.
From the imperial classes of ancient Rome, Egypt and Persia, purple was considered to have both magical and spiritual powers, and the ancient leaders that donned it wore it not only to signify their rank but to mark their w descendancy from the gods.
In the Byzantine Empire, empresses gave birth in the ‘Purple Chamber’ and honourable emperors were ‘born to the purple’ as a way to separate them from those who won or seized their title.
Laws were actually introduced to protect the colour’s use. Kings and emperors allowed senators to have togas with a stripe of purple, but no more than that.
In 1547, when Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, was tried for high treason against Henry VIII, the evidence against him included that he had been seen wearing purple, which only the king was allowed to wear.
This exclusivity extended to the Elizabethan era, during which the people in England were to abide by Queen Elizabeth I’s sumptuary laws that strictly regulated what colours, fabrics and clothes were allowed to be worn by different classes within society. The laws forbade anyone but close relatives of the royal family to wear purple.
Today, you may indulge in as much purple as you can muster.
And should you want some purple ghillies, take a look at some of our resources on this site for dance shoe vendors! Click the ghillies to visit our resource page.
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
