Red Doors

We looked around cyberspace and found some interesting explanations for RED DOORS. We are not promising that these are 100% correct but they sure are interesting.

In Catholicism, the red door on a chapel symbolized the blood of Christ, and other martyrs, to signify that the ground beyond the door (inside the church) was holy, and a sanctuary from physical and spiritual evils.

Red doors are favorites of Christians because in the Old Testament, doors of homes were smeared with the blood of a lamb for Passover. The Lord promised he would passover those homes and not visit those with the 10th plague (killing the firstborn male in each house). So, red doors signify that safety lies therein. It is a welcome.

Many Anglican (Episcopal) churches boast red doors for theological reasons. This goes back to the Middle Ages, when the north, south and east doors were painted red, symbolizing the Blood of Christ, to indicate that churches were designated Sanctuary, where anyone was safe from danger.

Some other mainline Protestant churches, such as Lutheran churches, have red doors as Wittenberg Cathedral, where Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses, had red doors, and by tradition, this marks such churches as Reformed churches.

According to The Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan - In the earlier days of the church it was understood that a soldier could not pursue an enemy that had entered through the red doors of a church. The red doors were a symbol of refuge and sanctuary for all people who entered. To all concerned the red on the doors signified the blood of Christ that had been shed so that all who came to him could be saved. Anyone who passed through those doors was safe as long as they stayed behind them.

Over time, Christian people began to see the red doors of the church as symbolizing not only physical refuge and safety, but spiritual refuge as well. The blood of Jesus, and of the Church's martyrs, that the red doors of the church symbolized, would protect you from evil, both physical and spiritual. The red doors spoke to the world of holy ground that existed inside those doors, space that had been purged and made clean by God's Holy Spirit.

In China, it's tradition to paint the front door red before the new year, to invite good luck and happiness.

In Ireland, front doors are painted red to ward-off ghosts and evil spirits

Another school of thought holds that doors are painted red to indicate the mortgage has been paid off!

Feng shui advice: If you'd like to bring new energy to your home, painting your front door a different color can help. Red is often recommended because in feng shui the color red is associated with success and prosperity, but that may not be the most appropriate choice for everyone.

(Seriously, I'm not kidding) This discalaimer goes with the above advice: "A few words of caution about red: In traditional Chinese feng shui, there are certain unlucky "star combinations" that can be activated by the color red. It's possible your house has one of these combinations at the front door. Also, each year (using the Chinese calendar), one of the eight directions or the center of the house will be an inauspicious place to use red. In order to find out if either of these situations is an issue for your home you will need to do a compass-method analysis of your home. Or, use the "try it and see" method: paint your front door red and see what happens. If your luck takes a big turn for the worse (illness, unexpected major expenses, loss of a contract or job, etc.), run back to the paint store and repaint the door another color."