"...Blue is a good color.  Very calm. very serene.  It sits well in the mind..."
     "Do colors really convey emotions?"
     "Of course they do."
     "And moral qualities...Yellow for cowardice.  White for purity.  Black for evil.  Green for innocence."
     "Green for envy."
     "Yes, that too.  But what does blue stand for?"
     "I don't know.  Hope, maybe."
     "And sadness.  As in, I'm feeling blue.  Or I've got the blues."
     "Yes, you're right.  Blue for loyalty."
     "But red for passion.  Everyone agrees on that."
     "The Big Red machine.  The red flag of socialism."
     "The white flag of surrender."
     "The black flag of anarchism. The Green Party."
     "But red for love and hate. Red for war."

-- husband and wife conversing in
Paul Auster's 2003 novel Oracle Night
                                 
 

   
     Every color symbolizes and/or evokes different feelings.  The color green has many discrete associations, including growth and rebirth, sickness (“green around the gills”), wealth (greenbacks), newness (a greenhorn), jealousy (“green with envy”) and peace (the olive branch).  However, such wildly different attributes are not new.  In ancient Greece, green was deemed the color of romance, tied in with the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite.  However, green also has less benign associations, such as a link with demons and serpents (“Pigments Through the Ages”).  It’s been called “Satan's favorite color” because it’s linked with copper,* supposedly the Devil’s favorite metal since it is shiny on the surface, and soft (and thus corruptible) on the inside (Cutting Edge Ministries).  Green was also linked with paganism – in addition to the Greek link mentioned above, Romans decorated with green plants to ensure good luck – which may also have contributed to its negative connotation (Tucker). 

     In ancient China, green was associated with dragons, but this was a positive link, involving the power of change, strength and wisdom.  (It was only later, with the advent of Christianity, that dragons were viewed in a pejorative light, as an embodiment of evil and destruction. Although today we associate Ireland with “the wearing of the green,” Celtic lore links the Devil with the color, perhaps because of the reasons cited above.)  In fact, Christian demons were believed to have green eyes and skin, and spew venom. Also, Arthurian legend maintains that a character known as the Green Knight, representing Death or the Devil, was sent to tempt Arthur's Knights of the Roundtable.  

     Green is also coupled with poison.  The favorite color of Napoleon, the green wallpaper in the erstwhile emperor’s home in St. Helena caused his death, with noxious fumes emanating from the bright green wall covering (“Pigments Through the Ages”).  Even today, green and sometimes yellow are linked with poison.  The lethal liqueur absinthe, the psychotropic drink of choice of some 19^th-century denizens, including Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allen Poe, was green and thus earned the nickname “green fairy” (“What Is Absinthe?”). 
     
     Paradoxically, green also connotes hope and renewal, i.e., the color of springtime.  Consider how Christians use evergreens as Christmas trees and kiss under mistletoe, as if this greenery will provide assurance of another spring.  In addition, the Catholic Church has associated green with Sundays, so altars are often swathed in green on the Sabbath.  In fact, the Holy Ghost is frequently depicted as a white pigeon on green background.   Tradition held that the Holy Grail was carved from a single large emerald, which had fallen out of Satan’s crown during his descent from heaven to Hell (Dave’s Down-to-Earth Rock Shop).  The 16^th-century German painter Hans Balding even earned the sobriquet “grien” because the color is predominant in his religious paintings, casting a weird supernatural glow” (Web Museum).  

     In the Arab world, green is linked with the prophet Mohammed, who declared it his favorite color; his cloak and turban are often green. Even today only his direct successors, the caliphs, are permitted to wear green turbans. The Holy Banner, the most precious relic of Islam, is green with golden embroidery. Mohammed supposedly carried this very banner into the Holy War which resulted in conquering Mecca. Green is also the predominating color in the Arabs’ vision of Paradise, representing flowering fields and lush oases. Green is the color of the Arabic League and many Arabic countries have included green in their national flags – Libya’s is solid green -- symbolizing unity among Arab nations. 

     Green has also come to represent the supernatural (McDaniel).  One explanation could be the aforementioned link with Satan, but this is not the only reason.  It’s also been explained that, in the heyday of the British music hall, a cloud of green smoke would often appear on stage to mask the arrival or departure of an otherworldly being. Thus, we have The Wizard of Oz, Frankenstein’s monster and Batman’s nemesis, the Riddler -- all green.  Even J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter  books refer frequently to the color green.  In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the protagonist has eyes “green as a freshly pickled toad,” a boil turns a hideous shade of green, robes worn by members of Slytherin Fraternity House and the Black Magick House are green, and a green light emanates from a wand, causing its user to vomit slugs.  In addition, a vile-smelling green onion is used by a student to ward off Valdemort’s evil, and greenish smoke hovers over a fight between two students. The King Serpent is described as "poisonous green," and the Chamber of Secrets is enveloped in a "greenish gloom.”
 

*When subjected to the elements, copper turns green.

 

SOURCES

       McDaniel, Gerald. “The Arthurian Legend: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”  <http://www.nortexinfo.net/McDaniel/1-06sg.html>

       Tucker, Suzetta. “The Color Green.” 1997. <http://ww2.netnitco.net/users/legend01/green.htm> 

       Dave’s Down to Earth Rock Shop. <http://www.davesdowntoearthrockshop.com/emerald.htm>

     Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.  Book review. <http://www.cuttingedge.org/news/n1485.cfm>

       “Pigments Through the Ages: Into the Greens.” <http://webexhibits.org/pgiments/indiv/color/greens3.html>

       Web Museum, Paris. <http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/baldung/>

       “What is absinthe?” <http://absinthe-green.com/about_absinthe.html>