What Color is Monday?

When I was about eight years old, I remember my older brother had a golden palomino horse named Sunday. One day he asked me, "What color is Sunday?" I gave him the obvious answer, "Yellow."

He agreed with me and went on.  "What color is Monday?"

It became clear to me at that point that he was not talking about his horse.

"Monday is red," I answered.

"No, Monday is blue," he responded.

Blue? How could anyone think that Monday is blue?

And Tuesday is orangish-yellow, Wednesday is green, Thursday is brown, Friday is black, and Saturday is colorless. Poor Saturday, I always thought. Why doesn't Saturday have a color?

I recently found out that there is a name for this phenomenon. It is listed as a "condition" in abnormal psychology textbooks called synesthesia, although it is not listed in the DSM IV manual because those who have synesthesia are not handicapped or disabled in any way. In fact, those who experience this "condition" find it enjoyable.

This is very fascinating to me. My husband thinks I am bonkers. He sees everything like I see Saturday, colorless. I can't even imagine a colorless world.

So, I asked the question at the dinner table last night. "Okay kids, what color is Monday?"

Kevin immediately said, "Yellow."

Ania objected, "No, it's orange."

Philip started laughing, and Lucia didn't say a word.

"Orange? Yellow?" I cried, "No, it's red!"

Kevin and Ania see in color. Philip and Lucia do not.

Upon further investigation, Ania was quick to agree with me that Saturday is colorless. She described it as "clear."

We then began to compare months, letters, the fifty states, and countries. Kevin is a musician and he sees chords and whole songs in color. Ania is an artist and she and her artsy friend have whole conversations about what color things are. I tend to see letters in color, and then whatever letter the word starts with, that is the color of that word. There are some exceptions to this. Some letters are colorless, like poor Saturday, so then the combination of letters determine the color of the word.

One very neat correlation I just became cognisant of is that of our school to God. Jesus is red, and Christ is a golden yellow. The Holy Spirit is white and gold. Red, white, and gold happen to be the colors of our school. And for the Alleluia Community School, Jesus reigns supreme! Thank you, Lord, for constantly revealing your hand in my life in the most fascinating ways!

So, if anyone comes up to you and asks, "What color is Monday?" they really are not asking a stupid question. They really may want to know.