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A black ribbon is a symbol of remembrance or mourning. It is often worn or put on a public display to express consolation.

Sign of mourning

Similar to a black armband, the black ribbon is a public display of grief. Individuals or organizations display the ribbon in commemoration of victims after specific incidents.

Some examples include:

• Black ribbons were worn and placed on doors after the May 1992 Westray Mine Disaster in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada.
• The ribbon was worn in the United Kingdom after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.
• Students distributed black ribbons after the April 2007 Virginia Tech shooting at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.
• The black ribbon has been used by the journalists in the Philippines to condemn the killings of journalists on the Maguindanao massacre.
• The 2013 London Marathon runners were given a black ribbon to wear to mark the Boston Marathon bombing.
• A black ribbon was projected onto the Sydney Opera House in April 2024 as a tribute to the victims of the 2024 Bondi Junction stabbings in Sydney, Australia.

The search engine Google, which often changes the company's logo to a Google Doodle commemorating timely events, has used the black ribbon to mark a number of incidents. These include the Charlie Hebdo shooting, the charter flight crash in Colombia in November 2016, the 2017 Portugal wildfires, and the death of Queen Elizabeth II. April 9, 2017, Google Arabic displayed a black ribbon as a mark of respect and sympathy for victims of 2017 Palm Sunday church bombings in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt.

To show sympathy for victims of the 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, Turkish Misplaced Pages and Apple's website homepage in Turkey changed to show a glowing black ribbon atop a dark background.

Other meanings

• Melanoma awareness. Sometimes shown as black with white polka dots.
• In Argentina, a black ribbon, sometimes with the national flag's colours in both ends, is used to raise awareness about the victims of subversive terrorism.
• By the Anarchist Black Ribbon Campaign, a free speech campaign started in 1996 inspired by the Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign.
• During the 6th International Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) the black ribbon was worn worldwide to show support and promote awareness of the Palestinian struggle.
• In India, 2011 to show support to Anna Hazare who was fasting to fight against corruption by government.
• Worn by people who have suffered from any intentions of self harming on November 30 of every year.
• In New Zealand, a black ribbon with a koru symbol supports an end to domestic violence. In Australia, a black ribbon raises awareness against domestic abuse of men and fathers.

In fiction

• In the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett, the black ribbon is instead worn by vampires to prove, in the vein of the real-world blue ribbon badge, that they have sworn never to drink blood again.

Variations

• TortureProtest.org black ribbon campaign
• Melanoma Awareness Ribbon Alternative with White Polka Dots
• 

See also

• Black Ribbon Day
• Half-mast
• List of awareness ribbons

References

1. Hoegg Ryan, Judith (1992). Coal In Our Blood: 200 Years of Coal Mining in Nova Scotia's Pictou County. Halifax: Formac. p. 142. ISBN 9780887802157.
2. Biddle, Lucy; Walter, Tony (1998). "The Emotional English and Their Queen of Hearts". Folklore. 109: 96–99. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1998.9715965. ISSN 0015-587X. JSTOR 1260575.
3. LaMar, Sondra (April 18, 2007). "Sigma Nu Distributes Black Ribbons on UA Fort Smith Campus Archived 2010-12-04 at the Wayback Machine". University of Arkansas – Fort Smith. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
4. "Philippines Top Stories: Politics, Environment, Education, Trending | Inquirer.net". newsinfo.inquirer.net. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
5. Gavin Brown (April 16, 2013). "London Marathon runners to wear black ribbons following Boston blasts". Metro. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
6. Sydney Opera House illuminated with black ribbon for shopping centre stabbing victims. 2024-04-15. Retrieved 2024-04-18 – via www.independent.co.uk.
7. Metro.co.uk, Deborah Arthurs for (2015-01-09). "Google's black ribbon pays respects to Charlie Hebdo victims". Metro. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
8. "Google pays tribute to Charlie Hebdo attack victims with black ribbon". The Independent. 2015-01-09. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
9. "Google de luto faz homenagem às vítimas do acidente com a Chape". Optclean (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2016-11-29. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
10. "Google pays tribute to victims of the 2017 Portuguese Wildfires". 19 June 2017. Retrieved 2017-06-20. (in Portuguese)
11. "Google pays emotional tribute to Queen with all-black logo and ribbon". Daily Express. 2022-09-09. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
12. "جوجل يتضامن مع شهداء الكنيسة البطرسية". Archived from the original on 2017-05-24. Retrieved 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2017-04-9. (in Arabic)
13. ""يوتيوب" يتضامن مع ضحايا انفجار الكنيسة البطرسية بشارة سوداء". 12 December 2016. Retrieved 2017-04-9. (in Arabic)
14. "Apple (Türkiye)". Apple (Türkiye) (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-02-10.
15. "BARC Graphics". 2005-03-04. Archived from the original on 2005-03-04. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
16. Zealand, Black Ribbon New. "Black Ribbon New Zealand". Black Ribbon New Zealand. Retrieved 2021-11-23.

External links

• The TortureProtest.org Black Ribbon Campaign

• Awareness ribbon
• Black symbols
• Grief