Purple Triangles - Symbol of JW faith?

by POs Son 17 Replies latest jw friends

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  cameo-d

  What is the meaning of the symbols...both the triangle and the color purple?

  Doesn't the Harlot wear purple and scarlet?

  "Surrounded by all the populations of the earth, she is bedecked in scarlet as a sign of her sins and cloaked in purple to show her rule of the world."

  2. Cloth of a color between violet and red, formerly worn as a symbol of royalty or high office. 3. Imperial power; high rank: born to the purple. 4. Roman Catholic Church a. The rank or office of a cardinal. b. The rank or office of a bishop.
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  cameo-d

  More on the color purple......

  The earliest archaeological evidence for the origins of purple dyes points to the Minoan civilization in Crete, about 1900 B.C. The ancient land of Canaan (its corresponding Greek name was Phoenicia, which means “land of the purple”) was the center of the ancient purple dye industry.

  “Tyrian Purple,” the purple dye of the ancients mentioned in texts dating back to about 1600 B.C., was produced from the mucus of the hypobranchial gland of various species of marine mollusks, notably Murex. It took some 12,000 shellfish to extract 1.5 grams of the pure dye.

  Although originating in Tyre (hence the name)....

  Rome, Egypt, and Persia all used purple as the imperial standard. Purple dyes were rare and expensive; only the rich had access to them. The purple colorants used came from different sources, most from the dye extraction from fish or insects.

  Insect and snail animal-based colors were mentioned in the Bible for use in textile furnishings of the Tabernacle and for the sacred vestments for the High Priest Aaron, and they also were used in King Solomon's and King Herod's temples in Jerusalem.

  With the decline of the Roman Empire, the use of “Tyrian Purple” also declined, and large-scale production ceased with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 A.D. It was replaced by cheaper dyes such as lichen purple and madder.

  Pope Paul II in 1464 introduced the so-called “Cardinal's Purple,” which was really scarlet extracted from the Kermes insect. This became the first luxury dye of the Middle Ages.

  Today, genuine “Tyrian Purple” remains the domain of the rich and famous.
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  Denial

  There was an elder in my old cong that had a purple triangle sticker on the back of hs mini-van like a bumper sticker. He said that it "started lots of conversations." I thought it was weird. (He had no personal connection to anyone who actually had to wear the coloured shape.)
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  BluesBrother

  Sites like "Service Supplies" have no authorisation from the WTS..I checked through your link and could not see a reference to a Purple Triangle.

  That said, the WTS has produced a video of that title describing the Concentration Camp horrors under the Nazis. The WTS does not endorse or encourage the use of any symbol to stand for J W's or that may be worn as an identity . They do not like such things, believing that they are akin to "idolatry" . I am sure that they would stamp out any such practice if it became widespread.

  BTW ..my Googling on the subject that a pink triangle may be seen as a symbol of Gay or Bi Sexual nature, so maybe it would not be a good idea to display a purple triangle - easily mistaken !
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  POs Son

  From BluesBrother:

  Sites like "Service Supplies" have no authorisation from the WTS..I checked through your link and could not see a reference to a Purple Triangle.

  They have now taken that symbol down off the site. Amazing what power this JWN site has! Seems that the society has infact stamped out such practice! Now I regret not having made a printout of the site. The triangle appeared on the left side below the jaunty fellow with the service bag, with the bibles and tetragramaton.
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  BizzyBee

  We visited the concentration camp Malthausen last year as part of a tour of Austria. The chart of triangles was displayed and our tour guide said that, of all the prisoners, JWs were the only ones who could secure their own release by simply disavowing their religion, but did not do so. I got a lump in my throat thinking what these poor, misguided people endured to be faithful to a false and malicious man-made organization.
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  blondie

  POs Son, I saw the symbol when I checked the site.

  It was under the symbol for the Tetrgrammaton, another one that is used like the cross in churches. I attended a congregation in Florida that had a large one displayed as you came.
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  Mrs. Fiorini

  cameo-d,

  Thanks for calling this error to my attention. Yes this was a slip. I meant to say purple triangle. The holocaust museum did not talk about any purple cross.