With its seven radiant colours, sun-after-rain brilliance, and infinite loop (it is, after all, a circle), it’s no wonder the rainbow has become such a powerful symbol – one of inclusion, hope, and dreams, writes Kirsty Green.
Today – April 3 – is National Look for a Rainbow Day, a moment to turn our eyes to the sky and share glimpses of these natural wonders on social media.
The timing makes sense – April’s mix of sunshine and showers provides the perfect conditions for these breath-taking arcs of colour. But perhaps, to truly test the rainbow’s symbolic strength as a beacon of hope, we should celebrate this day in the bleakest depths of winter, when optimism feels more elusive.
Right now, at the start of spring, we instinctively seek signs of brighter days ahead. The golden daffodils, which once made Wordsworth’s heart dance, remind us that renewal is near.
Five years ago, I was painting rainbows with my then five- and two-year-old children. If ever there was a time we needed hope, it was then—the early days of the Covid-19 lockdown. Our handmade rainbows, once symbols of resilience, still cling to our kitchen door. But their meaning has shifted. They are no longer just reminders of a world in crisis; they are snapshots of joy, of time spent together, of life’s small yet significant moments.
For me, the rainbow now carries a deeper message: living in the present is far more powerful than worrying about the future. And perhaps, that is the greatest hope of all.
Scrolling through my phone, writes Lucy Stephens, my stomach gives a little jolt when I come across the many photos I took during 2020 of painted rainbows around our local area.
Why my interest? I had more reason than most to be taking these photos. As the co-owner of a village newspaper responsible for its content, there was not a whole lot going on village news-wise. No arts festivals. No garden parties (not that I ever seem to be invited to those anyway. I’ve been desperate to go to a garden party for years. I’ve got the right dress and everything).
Yes, things were quiet in 2020, due to the brutal Covid-19 pandemic that changed life for all of us.
But when it comes to news, the important thing is to reflect the story of the time. As news producers we need to do that with our words and pictures. It’s no good saying: ‘No paper this month, there’s no news’. There’s always news. Sometimes you’ve just got to try harder to find it.
During Covid I wanted readers of my paper, the Village Voice – especially our elderly community – to feel a sense of normality and connection through our publication, when restrictions lifted enough for us to be able to post it through letterboxes again (we stayed online for two months when things really were truly locked down).
Slightly stuck for photographic content, and keen to show readers what life now looked like in our local area, I spent a lot of time on my one allotted daily walk taking pictures of the artwork that people put in their doorways and windows, the artists’ dual aims being to unleash their creativity and cheer everyone up.
Which these drawings undoubtedly did.
A talented and award-winning make-up artist who lives in my village had painted a rainbow-clad unicorn in her window. Children had drawn multiple rainbows in doorways all the way down the local streets, using their best felt-tips to carefully colour in ‘Save the NHS’ spelt out in block capitals.
Other youngsters had got the chalks out and gone rainbow-tastic on their driveways. A more unusual take on the theme that I enjoyed one day was coloured ribbons pinned to a tree in Aston-on-Trent. You had to stand in a certain place to get the full rainbow effect.
There were other pieces of artwork too. It turns out lots of people living in South Derbyshire are pretty handy with a crochet needle, and there were some brilliantly crafted NHS nurses in windows. A local engineer had rigged up a wonderful dove of peace hanging from a fishing line out of an upstairs window.
The rainbows were always my favourite though. And whenever I see one in the sky now, it brings me back to that time, when these beautiful natural arcs truly were a symbol of hope.
If don’t see a rainbow up above, I can always scroll through the photos on my phone and know there are plenty there.
Yes, it’s quite sad to look at the pictures from 2020.
But moving on through the pictures into 2021 and 2022, it also brings home the fact there are always better times ahead.
Because a year on from that first lockdown of 2020, I started working for Penguin PR.
