Saviours with Razors, by Penny-Anne Beaudoin, 2/6
Hair Colour
Black is the colour of my true love’s hair...
(Irish folksong)
In folksongs, maybe, but in ancient folklore it was much more likely that yellow was the colour of a true love’s hair. It seems that in the fairy tale kingdom, as in California, “blondes are like the state flower or something.” (From the television show Beverly Hills 90210.) So why the prevalence of the towheaded in these tales? The answer might surprise you.
The four fairy tales discussed here are among those collected by the venerable German Brothers Grimm in the early to mid-1800's. That’s right - collected, not written. Jacob and Wilhelm sought to compile volumes of folktales in an effort to unify Germany—then a collection of 39 different states—to help forge a national identity. Hair colour has long played an important role in German folklore; Juraj Lipscher has this to say about the fascinating change of hair colour in Germanic religious iconography:
[The] hair of [the] Virgin Mary and the robes of Angels were depicted [as] red in medieval paintings. The definitely positive connotation of the color red which originated with the neolithic hunter peoples and continued with the ancient Germans starts to change around 1500. The Germanic god Thor had red hair. l Red animals such as the robin, the fox and the squirrel were Thor's sacred creatures. [The] beard and eyes of Wotan, the Germanic god of [the] hunt, were fiery red too. [The] advent of Christianity diminished the power of these two Germanic gods. They were transformed into the devil with his red hair and red beard. Red haired women were reputed to be witches and whores and the poppy became the devil's flower. Sexuality which was also associated with red, was demonized in Christianity. Mary's hair became blonde. Old sayings discriminated [against] people with red hair or red beards: "Red hair, evil hair" and "Red beard - devil's way". Such prejudices still prevail in some rural areas of Europe.
(Pigments Through The Ages. . A public service of Dynamic Educational Advancement. Compiled by Juraj Lipscher. Edited by Michael Douma.)
[Mary Magdalene is also often depicted with red hair, as in the Cosimo painting to the right -- ed]
So, no redheaded heroines for the Brothers’ Grimm, that’s clear. Blondes are the most desirable. Occasionally a raven-haired beauty is acceptable. Brunettes - well, they don't even rate a mention! Grey is reserved for crones, hags, and (ahem!) old villainesses. And that’s why, with the exception of Snow White, when it comes to the job of heroine in the fairy tale kingdom, only golden girls need apply.
But wait! Not so fast, gentle readers! An examination of the original texts shows that only two of these four fairy tales make any mention of hair colour at all: Snow White, whose hair was “as black as ebony,” and Rapunzel, who had “splendid long hair, as fine as spun gold.” The colour of Cinderella’s and Sleeping Beauty’s hair is not explicitly stated. So why do we imagine these girls with blonde hair?
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