Colors of Burano

We were all heading for the same direction from Venice to an island situated in the northwestern part of the Venetian Lagoon, Burano. Gliding on the blue sea surface, our boat resembled a giant white swan. A deep azure blue filled the space. The dominant monotonous color bothers nobody as our destination would soon provide its compensation.

A small dot at the edge of our horizon enlarged gradually into colorful patches and the crowed on the boat began to stir itself with excitement and impatience. There we were at the Port of Burano, a world of color fairies. Various hues of colors were showing off its best in the setting sun. The evening shades did not succeed to hide any bright and pleasant tints of the fishing island.

Red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, pink... Hold on, these color adjectives failed to do any justice.

Scarlet, sky blue apple green, popcorn yellow, amber, flamingo pink...I have exhausted my color word bank to find a decent description for the color feast I was thrown in.

Turning around, I was dazzled at the fast changing of colors as if I broke into a painted scene by Vincent van Gogh. The sheer pleasure of observing bright colors competing against each other on street was overwhelming. Burano would form a perfect casting scene for any paint advertisement. Without any intentional arrangement of colors, the island exemplifies the attractiveness of colors to human instinct.

Stories hold that the romantic colors of Burano originated out of practical necessity. Distinct colors provided fishermen who return late at night a clear signposting of their residence where their wives and children were waiting for their harvest. Centuries later, Burano is still a fishing island, with boats resting in its canals peaceful fully. Wives of fishermen accidentally gaze over the street from their flower-decorated windows. The ancient streets are now paradise for photographers and travelers. Their life continues in the lively neighborhood. With the advent of electricity and street light, colors are no longer serving their original signposting mission. People begin to be accustomed to it. The tiny 3000-resident island became known for its brave expressions with colors. Thousands of people came for nothing but a gaze over the shaded hues and left with pictures of colorful houses they would later put up on office walls to sustain them over days of monotony.

Compared with the sewer flavor of this story, another explanation does not sound so friendly. In the 14th century when Black Death swept across Europe and claimed over one third the population, households with Black Death patients paint their house with white limewater. The nervous residents began to paint their walled portion with bright colors to claim their immunity to the deadly disease. Years have passed, and the colors retained its original brightness with an annual painting. Indeed, the necessity assumption has vanished with the dismissal of danger.

The colors of Burano originated from necessity, but survived thanks to their appeal to human beings who made proactive efforts to keep them bright and distinct. Our ancestors have been fanatic about colors and master the technique to distract colors from plants to dye their garments. In China, the choice of colors was associated with official ranks in the court. As colors take on symbolic meanings, yellow designate royalty and is confide to the use of the royal family while red signifies luck to form the theme color for weddings.

In colors, there is an aura of energy. The flow of energy speaks to people in an inexpressible way and affects cultures in various forms. Ancient Roman dress their Gods with red; Egyptian Pharaohs worn blue to ward of the evils; Dwellers of Ghardaïa in eastern Algeria paint their house green after their holy pilgrimage to Mecca... Colors might mean bear opposite meanings in different settings and I was just fascinated by how colors were civilized with a meaning and their connotations.

In modern times, color psychology has evolved as an independent discipline. A superficial association between color and personality might be red for an extravert person and blue for a melancholy soul. I must apologize for such generalization and simplification. Yet, the preference of colors is a reflected mirror of a state of mind. As masters of colors, artists are able to direct their color army to take over the sense of the audience. Our Nature mother directs the key tone to seasons by painting spring with a hopeful green, summer with thriving colors, autumn with nostalgic gold and winter with chilling white. Its impact on human psychology is hard to deny with the rise and fall of mood in the natural cycle.

I will not try to explain the correlation between colors and humans. I know too little in this world of too much. I do feel ashamed to sustain my words with observation without explanation, but I was contented to notice the colors of the world and to believe in the colors of the wind.

A line painted on a pineapple yellow house in Burano keeps surfacing in my mind:

"Color is like music. It uses shorter way to come to our senses to awake our emotions."

#Italy #Travel