Different Colored Eyes Day
Jul 12
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"On Cessnock banks a lassie dwells,
Could I describe her shape and mien;
Our lasses a' she far excels -
An' she has twa sparkling, roguish een! "
~ Robert Burns, The Lass of Cessnock Banks, 1780
Today is a day to celebrate both the diversity of eye colour between individuals and even the difference between individual eyes, a condition which commonly exists in some animals but in people as well known as heterochromia iridum, a variation in the colouration of the iris. Should your own "twa rougueish e'en" be of the amber, blue, brown, gray, green, hazel, red, violet, or a mix of colours, we hope that today, they have reason to sparkle! 👀
Twa Rogueish E'en
Today is a day to celebrate different colored eyes - both the diversity of eye colour between individuals and even the difference between individual eyes, a condition known as heterochromia iridum, a difference in coloration of the iris.
Currently eye color classification groups people with the following colors: Amber, Blue, Brown, Gray, Green, Hazel, Red, and Violet.
The most uncommon eye colors include:
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Green
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Violet/Red
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Amber
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Hazel
Heterochromia is a genetic trait that, depending on the creature it occurs in, can be due to inbreeding, genetic inheritance or mutation. In some breeds of cats, like the Turkish Angora, heterochromia is a desirable trait that breeders try to maintain. In humans, heterochromia occurs at a rate of 1 in 6000.
In complete heterochromia, one iris is a different color from the second iris.
On partial heterochromia or sectoral heterochromia, part of one iris is a different color from the rest of that same iris.
In humans, the pigmentation of the iris varies from light brown to black, depending on the concentration of melanin in the iris pigment epithelium (located on the back of the iris), the melanin content within the iris stroma (located at the front of the iris), and the cellular density of the stroma.The appearance of blue and green, as well as hazel eyes, results from possible Rayleigh scattering of light in the stroma, a phenomenon similar to that which accounts for the blueness of the sky.
For more about the rarest eye colors in humans, click the beautiful heterochromic eyes.
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
