The first colors you think of when someone mentions Christmas, are red and green. If you think long enough you may come to gold and silver, maybe even blue. Where did these color come from though? Frankincense, gold, and myrrh are all yellowish or gold. We aren't told what color clothing Jesus is wrapped in, but purple is the color associated with royalty and Jesus is King of Kings. The star would have appeared silver or gold-ish. Bethlehem isn't a forest or jungle where we would imagine a lot of greenery... I can't even fathom where the red would come from.

One scholar traces the red and green combination past Catholic paintings of saints to a Celtic legend in which a tree was said to be half green and half red.[1]

Another source assumes green became associated with the holiday through the pagan Saturnalia's tradition of exchanging greenery (like holly or ivy) and the red originates from Jesus' sacrifice later in life.[2]

Yet, another theory is that the red and green come from a play, showcased on Christmas eve, about the fall of man. In this play, Adam and Eve's forbidden fruit is a red apple tied to a pine tree (we won't get into the fact that the Bible does not say they ate an apple).[3]

There’s also the legend of the Oak and Holly Kings[5] which is possibly how holly, which is red and green, became associated with the holiday (see

This made me wonder what the Bible says about these colors. When God tells the Israelites how to build the tabernacle, we get a glimpse of the colors He prefers. What were those colors? Scarlet, gold, blue, and purple.