Sometimes it is funny – the German expression »red thread« translates into English as »golden thread«!
Well, mine is definitely red – similar to the one I imagined in the Greek myth, which princess Ariadne gives to the warrior Theseus to help him find his way out of the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur, a divine creature, half man, half bull.
Not unlike Ariadne’s thread, »red thread« in German is a basic motif, a leading thought, a recognizable structure. My red thread makes me pause to think of what guides me in life, each time I see it in a mirror in front of me.
And there is another reason to wear it.
Soon after the end of the French Revolution, a thin, red neckband was a symbol of recognition among those who escaped the guillotine in the very last moment.
In a returning feeling of grief, sorrow, and melancholy, I wear this red thread every now and again, until it loosens itself and I lose it. It is a memory of my beloved, and a symbol of the wounds still open in my heart and in my life. The red thread also reminds me of my joy to live and love and breathe!
Only recently I learned that the red thread in the British navy is known to have been woven into each and every rope, thus identifying royal property. And, according to Wikipedia, »The ‘Red Thread of Fate’ [in] East Asian […] is commonly thought of as an invisible red cord around the finger of those that are destined to meet one another in a certain situation as they are ‘their true love’.«
