Saturday, October 02, 2010
Living In Malaysia: Yellow is a Royal Colour
Today the cats and dogs of the bloggosphers are celebrating LIVE Day that will hopefully raise awareness and funds for the fight against cancer.
The group behind it is Livestrong. If you live in Malaysia, check out the National Cancer Society.
Livestrong has lots of info on their web site so if you're surfing for helpful info, start there. The National Cancer Society's web site is less useful but do pick up the phone and give them a ring. They're great people, and very supportive. Plus, you don't need to give your name if you're shy.
Livestrong has chosen yellow as their colour, which is interesting as yellow is a royal colour in Malaysia and has special cultural significance.
Malaysia has 13 states, 9 of which are headed by hereditary Sultans. The Sultans elect one of their members to be Agong, King of Malaysia. These appointments run for 5 years.
While the post is elected, in practice the royal houses take it in turn. The current Agong is Mizan Zainal Abidin, the Sultan of Terengganu.
Other heads of state that are elected include The Pope, and the royals of Cambodia. In the movies there's Star Wars queen Padmé Amidala.
Yellow is a royal colour in Malaysia, so if one of the Sultans happens to invite you to an official party, you can't wear yellow clothes. However, you can wear yellow any other time you like.
Yellow is popular here because Malaysians tend to look good in it, especially if they have darker skin tones. I avoid it like the plague because with my skin and hair it makes me look like a banana.
If you are a cat or dog and want to take part in this day, check out zoolatry blog, and Milocat blog.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
25 comments:
That was a great post, I did not know yellow was a royal color, how cool!
I enjoyed the post as the Admiral's scribe. And like Brian,. had no idea about yellow being a royal color. I am fair skinned and red headed with blue eyes. yellow (and coral) absolutely NOT my color(s)
Interesting post! We want to see you looking like a banana though! :)
Interesting ....
Especially the "banana" part! :)
To add, most royal-loving Thais wear yellow on Monday to pay homage to their King who was born on this day of the week.
Ginger cat in Malaysia sometimes called as "kucing kuning" or Yellow Cat.
Eg:
Who is the owner of that fat kucing kuning?
If anyone always talk dirty, he will be called Otak Kuning (Yellow Brain)
Thank you from our hearts for supporting LIVESTRONG day by going yellow.
Blessing to all those who are currrently fighting cancer, are cancer survivors, or who have lost their lives to this terrible disease.
LIVESTRONG always.
So important event and beautiful homage!
purrs and love
Luna - WE LOVE LUNA
Ah. You wear yellow and end up looking like a banana. Some of us chinese don't need to wear yellow to be labelled a banana.....
LIVESTRONG!
How interesting about yellow being a royal color there.
What a great post! Interesting that Yellow is a royal colour in Malaysia.
We hope that someday soon Cancer will be history
We didn't know yellow was a royal colour - we had to laugh at the "banana" comment.
We hope that cancer will be curable soon.
LOL! Do agree about looking like a banana if one wears a full yellow!
Khwite the furry intersting post!
Thanks fur sharing!
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
Great post! I didn't know about the color yellow. I look terrible in it too! It's very nice of you to support this cause (we didn't know about it). We truly hope there's a cure to this disease very soon.
Very interesting ! I didn't know that yellow is a royal color, mostly it's red. but still I want to see you as a banana !
Hooray for LIVESTRONG day! Yellow is a beautiful color!
P.S. I can't wear yellow either - unless it's a very light shade - but I really like it.
A very interesting post! We didn't know that about yellow in Malaysia.
This is my first time visiting your blog. It's great. :)
Thx for following me on Twitter. I've just followed you back. Stop by my blog anytime to say hi.
xoxo
www.herbiesdrive-in.blogspot.com
Very interesting post. I do not know much about your country and that was nice of you to share that.
Hi guys! Thanks for visiting me. Your post sure was interesting. I didn't know all of those things about Malaysia. Now, I can impress my boyfuriend, Hero, who also lives in Malaysia ;o) Thanks for posting about Livestrong and spreading the word.
Snuggles,
Twix
Wow! I learned something new today too! I look okay in yellow but prefer another color. My daughter says yellow makes her look washed out so I guess she wouldn't wish to be a royal personage.
Yellow is definitely not my color, either. But Luna did have a yellow toy that we could use to show our support today.
Interesting how colors take on specific significance in cultures.
It is interesting to learn about the ways of other cultures. We also did not know about yellow being a royal colour. The banana made us laugh.
We wanted to wish you LiveStrong for yesterday! It was interesting to read that yellow is a royal colour here in Malaysia. We are so new here and there is so much to learn!!
Purrs, Keiko, Kenji, Pricilla & Yuji
Oh dear, ha ha! You don't look like a banana at all, dear heart! I remember being taught in school at the age of 7 that we should not wear yellow when visiting palaces or when meeting royalty. Very useful info for a 7-year-old to know, no? Rumour then spread among us little ones that you could get beheaded for wearing yellow in front of royalty. Such imaginations we had!
Happy LIVE Day, and a very Happy World Animal Day to all at home!
Post a Comment