Is February Purple?

I've written before about my impressions 

that certain months are specific colors. 

For example, I've mentioned that I see

September as a deep ultramarine or sapphire blue. 

October is red to orange.

November has always been brown to gray, 

December a deep forest green.

January is ice blue, 

and February is most definitely a deep dark purple.

Curiously, other months have no color association for me

 that readily comes to mind.

Even more unusual when I realized 

that the months I associate with color

are the fall and winter months, which are my least favorites 

because they bring cold weather and low light.

photo courtesy of morguefile.com

I've always thought of those associations as a result of my imagination,

but I recently read an article by Darya Zabelina in Psychology Today

called "Finding Butterfly: Are You a Synesthete?" 

first published online April 24, 2011.

Zabelina says that 20-25% of all artists may have a type of synesthesia,

a neurological condition that causes a link
between certain visual and aural perceptions
and numbers, days of the week or months, etc.

For example, Zabelina says that to about 4% of the population, 5 is red.

For some, when they see blue, 

they also hear a particular sound like a C sharp.

photo courtesy of morguefile.com

Apparently there are two genes responsible for these associations.

One gene is responsible for perceptual synesthesis, 

which is the one that causes someone to hear a sound when they see blue, 

or red when they see 5.

I had heard of synesthesia before, 

but I didn't know there were two types.

The second type is called conceptual synesthesis.

This is the one that causes people to associate two concepts

 like color and days of the week, for example.

I'm not sure of the differences between the two types 

because they seem about the same to me.
Maybe one is more physical, the other more an association.

photo courtesy of morguefile.com

Regardless of the differences, they do share one similarity:

they are beyond the synesthete's conscious control.

Even though the perceptions and associations that synesthetes have are involuntary,

I haven't read any accounts so far

 that indicate they are also a handicap or a burden.

To me, seeing red 5s or yellow 7s 

would create a beautiful rainbow kind of world to walk around in,

where even the letters and numbers are vivid and colorful.

I Googled "Wednesday" and "6" to see 

what synesthetic perceptions have been reported for them.

Here are synesthetic color associations for Wednesday February 6:

Wednesday Indigo Blue 

February Purple

6 Green

It's a very colorful day.

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