Let’s celebrate Pink Thursday

*(A GNA feature by Francis Ameyibor)*

Accra, Aug. 23, GNA – I suffered insomnia due to pressure as I was preparing to bid farewell to my mother; Madam Comfort Akua Ameyibor, who died on June 10 at the Peki Government Hospital.

The insomnia was ignited by a call I received before bedtime from my younger brother reminding me of August 29, which some people see as Judgment or Verdict Day.

He was worried about how close the date would be to the burial date of my mother, which is August 31, but I dismissed his fears.

But, while in bed, I began to reflect on the whole issue again as leading politicians from both camps are expected to join me mourn my old lady.

I dreamt of a platform of contrasts. I saw former President Jerry John Rawlings, President John Dramani Mahama, Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, Dr Tony Aidoo and other leading members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) dressed in the colours of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

On the same platform, former President John Agyekum Kufuor, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, Mr Kofi Jumah, Mr Kennedy Agyapong, Mr Owusu Afriyie and other NPP leading personalities were also dressed in NDC paraphernalia.

What would be the impact of such unthinkable act of political gymnastics on the foot soldiers after the Supreme Court ruling?

Then I noticed that I was on a wonderland, but reality dawned on me to consider what can unify us as Ghanaians after August 29...

I looked at the colours and settled on red, but noticed that in Ghana, red belongs to my favourite football club, the champions of Ghana, Kumasi Asante Kotoko. I tried to look at other colours, but noticed that it would land me in the camp of old folks- Accra Hearts of Oak.

*NATIONAL PINK SHEET DAY*

Upon reflection I fell upon the colour pink, since the Supreme Court hearing the Election Petition filed by the NPP against NDC dwelt largely on disputes over pink sheets.

I humble suggest that Thursday, August 29 should be declared a “National Pink Day,” so that everybody will dress in pink.

The dress should have the inscription: “Unity for Peace” in front whilst the back should have beautifully crafted logos of all political parties stamped with the inscription “Unity in Diversity”.

I noticed that the colour pink has some legal connections in England and Wales. A brief delivered to a barrister by a solicitor is usually tied with pink ribbon. Pink was the traditional colour associated with the defence, while white ribbons may have been used for the prosecution.

Ghana would not be the only country to use pink for the celebration I am proposing. In Thailand, pink is associated with Tuesday on the Thai solar calendar. Anyone may wear pink on Tuesdays, and anyone born on a Tuesday may adopt pink as their colour.

In the 19th and early 20th century, pink was the traditional colour used in cartography to represent the British Empire.

*PINK DEFINITION*

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, pink is any of the colours between bluish red (purple) and red, of medium to high brightness and of low to moderate saturation.

Commonly used for Valentine's Day and Easter, as it is sometimes referred to as "the colour of love." The use of the word for the colour "pink" was first recorded in the late 17th century.

Although pink is roughly considered just as a tint of red, most variations of pink lie between red, white and magenta colours. This means that the hue of a pink is somewhat between red and magenta.

In most Indo-European languages, the colour pink is called Rosa.

The colour pink is named after the flowers called pinks, flowering plants in the genus Dianthus. The name derives from the frilled edge of the flowers. The infinitive "to pink" dates back from the 14th century and means "to decorate with a perforated or punched pattern".

The word pink was first used as a noun to refer to the colour known today as pink in the 17th century. The verb sense of the word is in the name of a hand tool is known as pinking shears.

In the 17th century, the word pink or pinke was also used to describe a yellowish pigment, which was mixed with blue colours to yield greenish colours.

The association of pink with girls relate to the modern era, probably developing at different times in different countries.

In 1856, it was reported that Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie of France prepared outfits with blue trimmings for the anticipated birth of a son, but their reasons were religious, depicting that the son was to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary, whose traditional colour was blue.

*PINK CONTROVERSY*

Before the 20th century, some European countries at times assigned pink to boys whilst others assign it to girls.

Some feminists have sought to reclaim the colour pink. For example, the Swedish feminist party Feminist Initiative and the American activist women's group -Code Pink: Women for Peace use pink as their colour.

The pink ribbon is the international symbol of breast cancer awareness. Pink was chosen partially because it is so strongly associated with femininity.

According to Wikipedia the phrase "pink-collar worker" refers, in the West, to persons working in fields or jobs conventionally regarded as "women's work."

In sexuality; whereas Jewish people were forced to wear a yellow Star of David under Nazi rule, men imprisoned on accusations of homosexuality were forced to wear a pink triangle.

To redeem pink from the colour controversy in 1993, artist Gioia Fonda created a conceptual piece in the form of a week- long holiday called pink week. The intention of pink week is to liberate the colour pink from all dogma and simply celebrate the colour pink as a colour.

Ghana can therefore reduce the ruling of the Election Petition to a national celebration of Pink Day not to remember who won or lost the case but to mark a renaissance of modern day politics.

Ghana can therefore used the pink as its used in American prisons to calm aggressive prisoners; to tranquil politics of antagonisms, winner takes all, hate speech, ethnic attacks.

In the French academic dress system, the five traditional fields of study- Arts, Science, Medicine, Law and Divinity are each symbolised by a distinctive colour, which appears in the academic dress of the people who graduated in this field.

*PINK AND ALCOHOL*

Pink Lady is an alcoholic beverage made with gin and grenadine syrup and may include other ingredients. A pink squirrel is made of white crème de cacao, crème de noyaux and cream.

Pink Gin is a cocktail made by rinsing a glass with bitters and filling with gin.

When one is laid off or fired from a job, in the United States, it is called getting a pink slip.

*PINK AND RELIGION*

On the religious side in Catholicism, pink called rose by the Catholic Church symbolises joy and happiness. It is used for the third Sunday of Advent and the fourth Sunday of Lent to mark the halfway point in these seasons of penance.

For this reason, one of the candles in an Advent wreath may be pink, rather than purple.

However, in some Protestant denominations, the pink candle is sometimes lit on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, sometimes known as the Sunday of Love.

Let’s go Pink on Thursday, August 29!

GNA