Why is the red carpet red?

Answer 1

In the times of kings and queens, lords and ladies, castles and crusades, the red carpet in the center of the room often indicated royalty or class. If you notice, many times in a lot of other assemblies that include those of "common" birth, there are no red carpets. This could be one reason why. Red was also the national colors of many nations that indicate the blood shed in loyalty to a country or the loyalty to someone from the heart (the heart is red) and royalty, as red is a very royal color, often used in ceremonial and corronation robes back then. There have also been records from Greek scriptures in which the red carpet was said to only be something that gods walked on because walking on a red carpet often did not let your foot touch earth, so it was like saying that you were walking in heaven. The earlier records of this was a quote from a play called Agamenon by Aeschylus, written in 458 BC. Agamenon has returned from Troy where he is greeted by his wife who puts down a carpet for him to walk on and says: "Now my beloved, step down from your chariot, and let not your foot, my lord, touch the Earth. Servants, let there be spread before the house he never expected to see, where Justice leads him in, a crimson path."Agamenon had resonded with: "I am a mortal, a man; I cannot trample upon these tinted splendors without fear thrown in my path." He said this because he knew that only gods walk on carpets such as the one that his wife had put before him, and he knew that he was not a god. In modern times, the first appearance of a red carpet was in 1902 when The New York Central Railroad used plush crimson red carpets to direct people as they boarded the train. Other places that they use the red carpet was to welcome guests of honor, or V.I.P. as people call them now, or celebraties at formal events. The term "rolling out the red carpet" often indicates a special effort made in the interest of hospitality. See following link for more details: http://ask.Yahoo.com/20050916.html