Purple in culture

Purple is a color intermediate between blue and red. It is similar to violet, but unlike violet, which is a spectral color with its own wavelength on the visible spectrum of light, purple is a composite color made by combining red and blue. According to surveys in Europe and the U.S., purple is the color most often associated with royalty, magic, mystery, and piety. When combined with pink, it is associated with eroticism, femininity, and seduction.

Purple was the color worn by Roman magistrates; it became the imperial color worn by the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, and later by Roman Catholic bishops. Similarly in Japan, the color is traditionally associated with the Emperor and aristocracy. The complementary color of purple is yellow.

In culture and society

Asian culture
In China, purple represents spiritual awareness, physical and mental healing, strength and abundance. A red purple symbolizes luck and fame. The Chinese word for purple, zi, is connected with the North Star, Polaris, or zi Wei in Chinese.
In Chinese astrology the North Star was the home of the Celestial Emperor, the ruler of the heavens (As noted above, the area around the North Star is called the Purple Forbidden Enclosure in Chinese astronomy.). For that reason the forbidden city in Beijing was also known as the purple forbidden city (zi Jin cheng).
In Chinese painting, the color purple represents the harmony of the universe because it is a combination of red and blue (yang and yin respectively).
In Japan, purple is the color of privilege and wealth, the color associated with the Japanese aristocracy. The word for purple is murasaki, which is also the name of the purple gromwell flower
Purple was a popular color introduced into Japanese dress during the Heian Period (794–1185). The dye was made from the root of the alkanet plant (Anchusa officinalis), also known as murasaki in Japanese. At about the same time, Japanese painters began to use a pigment made from the same plant.
In Thailand, widows in mourning wear the color purple. Purple is also associated with Saturday on the Thai solar calendar.

Engineering
The color purple plays a significant role in the traditions of engineering schools across Canada. This fascination with purple is commonly attributed to the story of the sinking of the Titanic, in which the purple-clad Marine Engineers remained on board to delay the ship's sinking. Purple is also the colour of the Engineering Corp in the British Military. It is common for engineers across schools in Canada to dye themselves (and their leather jackets, in the case of Queen's University engineers) purple using the medical dye Gentian Violet, especially during events such as Frosh Week.

Idioms and expressions
Purple prose refers to pretentious or overly embellished writing. For example, a paragraph containing an excessive number of long and unusual words is called a purple passage.
Born to the purple means someone who is born into a life of wealth and privilege. It originally was used to describe the rulers of the Byzantine Empire. The Empresses gave birth in a purple chamber in the palace in Constantinople.
A purple patch is a period of exceptional success or good luck. The origins are obscure, but it probably refers to the symbol of success of the Byzantine Court. Bishops in Byzantium wore a purple patch on their costume as a symbol of rank.
Purple haze refers to a state of mind induced by psychedelic drugs, particularly LSD. It is said to have originated because the first LSD manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Sandoz was contained in purple capsules. Owsley Stanley also produced a batch of LSD in 1966 that was contained in purple pills. In addition, there is a strain of cannabis called Purple Haze that has purple buds. The expression purple haze gave its name to a 1967 song by Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix denied that his song was about drugs, saying that he took the expression from a science fiction novel that he had read.
Wearing purple is a military slang expression in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. for an officer who is serving in a joint assignment with another service; an Army officer on assignment to the Navy, an Air Force officer in the Marines, etc. The officer is symbolically putting aside his or her traditional uniform color and exclusive loyalty to their service during the joint assignment, though in fact they continue to wear their own service's uniform.
Purple squirrel is a term used by employment recruiters to describe a job candidate with precisely the right education, experience, and qualifications that perfectly fits a job’s multifaceted requirements. The assumption is that the perfect candidate is as rare as a real-life purple squirrel.

Military
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed during their service.

Music
Deep Purple is a popular rock band.
Purple words (on a grey background) are referenced by Neil Young in Cowgirl in the Sand as a more accessible and appropriate form of purple prose perhaps
"Deep Purple" is also the name of a popular song that was the favorite of Babe Ruth.
"Purple Haze" is one Jimi Hendrix's most popular songs.
Purple was the favorite color of musician Prince. His 1984 film and album Purple Rain is one of his best-known works. The title track is Prince's signature song and was nearly always played in concert. Prince encouraged his fans to wear purple to his concerts.
"Hail to purple" is a line in the Northwestern University alma mater.
Purple are a British tribute band to Deep Purple.
The Mulberry Purple is a popular modern rock band.
"Purple People Eater" was one of the biggest rock and roll hits of 1958.
"Start Wearing Purple" is a song by Gogol Bordello.
Purple Ribbon Records is a hip-hop record label owned by rapper Big Boi of the rap duo Outkast. 2005 saw the release of the mixtape Got Purp? Vol 2 featuring the Purple Ribbon All-Stars and other artists on the label. In this case, purple refers to a particular quality of marijuana.
Purple is a 1994 album by the band Stone Temple Pilots.
Purple is also the name of a track by rap artist Nas.
Purple Music, Inc is a company in Switzerland that produces house music.
The New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco in 1969, and its original lineup included members of the Grateful Dead.
"The Purple Bottle" is a song by Animal Collective.
Purple Line is a song by Korean band, TVXQ.
Purple is the color worn by Jeff Fatt and later Lachlan Gillespie of the children's musical group The Wiggles.

Parapsychology
In parapsychology, people with purple auras are said to have a love of ritual and ceremony.
Politics
In British politics, purple is used to represent the UK Independence Party, a right-wing Eurosceptic party.
In the Republic of Ireland, the Social Democrats use purple as a party color.
In the politics of the Netherlands, Purple (Dutch: paars) means a coalition government consisting of liberals and social democrats (symbolized by the colors blue and red, respectively), as opposed to the more common coalitions of the Christian Democrats with one of the other two. Between 1994 and 2002 there were two Purple cabinets, both led by Prime Minister Wim Kok.
The Purple Republic is a fictional republic based around the color Purple. They advocate the eradication of all non purple penguins on Club Penguin.
In the Politics of Belgium, as with the Netherlands, a purple government includes liberal and social-democratic parties in coalition. Belgium was governed by Purple governments from 1999 to 2007 under the leadership of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.
In United States politics, a purple state is a state equally balanced between Republicans (currently symbolized by red, traditionally as blue) and Democrats (currently symbolized as blue, traditionally as red).
In Norwegian politics, the Liberal People's Party has used purple to symbolize their politics of unregulated laissez-faire capitalism.
The United States Pirate Party is symbolized by purple.
Rhyme
In the English language, the word "purple" has only one perfect rhyme curple
others are obscure perfect rhymes, such as hirple:

Robert Burns rhymes purple with curple in his Epistle to Mrs. Scott. A curple refers to 1) the small of the waist before the flare of the hips or 2) a derriere, rump or behind.
Examples of imperfect rhymes or non-word rhymes with purple:
In the song Grace Kelly by Mika the word purple is rhymed with "hurtful".
In his hit song "Dang Me," Roger Miller sings these lines:
Roses are red, violets are purple
Sugar is sweet and so is maple surple [sic]

Sexuality
Purple is sometimes associated with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. It is the symbolic color worn on Spirit Day, a commemoration that began in 2010 to show support for young people who are bullied because of their sexual orientation. Purple is closely associated with bisexuality, largely in part to the bisexual pride flag which combines pink – representing homosexuality – and blue – representing heterosexuality – to create the bisexual purple. The purple hand is another symbol sometimes used by the LGBT community during parades and demonstrations.

Sports and games
The National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings use purple as their primary color, though the Lakers formerly used the term "Forum Blue", in reference to their old arena The Forum. Coincidentally, all three teams are in the Pacific Division of the NBA.
In Indian Premier League, purple is the primary color of the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings used purple as one of their primary colors.
In Major League Baseball, purple is one of the primary colors for the Colorado Rockies.
In the National Football League, the Minnesota Vikings and Baltimore Ravens use purple as main colors.
The Australian Football League's Fremantle Football Club use purple as one of their primary colors.
In Association football (soccer), Italian Serie A club ACF Fiorentina, Belgian Pro League club and former Europa League winner R.S.C. Anderlecht, French Ligue 1 club Toulouse FC and Ligue 2 club FC Istres, Spanish La Liga club Real Valladolid, Austrian Football Bundesliga club FK Austria Wien, Hungarian Nemzeti Bajnokság I club Újpest FC, Slovenian PrvaLiga club NK Maribor, former Romanian Liga I clubs FC Politehnica Timișoara and FC Argeș Pitești, Andorran Primera Divisió club CE Principat, German club Tennis Borussia Berlin, Italian club A.S.D. Legnano Calcio 1913, Swedish club Fässbergs IF, Australian A-League Club Perth Glory and American Major League Soccer club Orlando City use purple as one of their primary colors.
Melbourne Storm from Australia's National Rugby League use purple as one of their primary colors.
Costa Rica's Primera División soccer team Deportivo Saprissa's main color is purple (actually a burgundy like shade), and their nickname is the "Monstruo Morado", or "Purple Monster".
In tennis, the official colors of the Wimbledon championships are deep green and purple (traditionally called mauve).
In American college athletics, Louisiana State University, Kansas State University, Texas Christian University, the University of Central Arkansas, Northwestern University, the University of Washington, and East Carolina University all have purple as one of their main team colors.
The University of Western Ontario in London, Canada and Bishop's University in Sherbrooke, Canada has purple as one of its main team colors.
Billiard games
Purple is the color of the ball in Snooker Plus with a 10-point value.
In the game of pool, purple is the color of the 4-solid and the 12-striped balls.

Flags
Today only one nation in the world has purple or violet in its national flag; the Flag of Dominica, an island in the Caribbean, features a sisserou parrot, a national symbol.
The lower band of the flag of the second Spanish republic (1931–39) was colored a tone of purple, to represent the common people as opposed to the red of the Spanish monarchy, unlike other nations of Europe where purple represented royalty and red represented the common people.
In Japan, the prefecture of Tokyo's flag is purple, as is the flag of Ichikawa.
Porpora, or purpure, a shade of purple, was added late to the list of colors of European heraldry. A purple lion was the symbol of the old Spanish Kingdom of León (910–1230), and it later appeared on the flag of Spain, when the Kingdom of Castile and Kingdom of León merged together.

Source From Wikipedia