Significance of Colors
Significance has been attached to the several colors among all peoples and in all periods of culture. That it is still recognized in the highest civilizations is shown by the associations of death and mourning connected with black, of innocence and peace with white, danger with red, and epidemic disease, officially, with yellow. Without dwelling upon the modern popular fancies on this subject, some illustrations from antiquity may be useful for comparison.
The Babylonians represented the sun and its sphere of motion by gold, the moon by silver, Saturn by black, Jupiter by orange, Mars by red, Venus by pale yellow, and Mercury by deep blue. Red was anciently and generally connected with divinity and power both priestly and royal. The tabernacle of the Israelites was covered with skins dyed red and the gods and images of Egypt and Chaldea were noticeably of that color, which to this day is the one distinguishing the Roman Pontiff and the cardinals.
In ancient art each color had a mystic sense or symbolism, and its proper use was an important consideration and carefully studied. With regard to early Christian art, the following extract is given from Mrs. Clement’s Handbook of Legendary and Mythologic Art, Boston, 1883. The associations with the several colors therein mentioned differ widely from those in modern folk-lore—for instance, those with green and yellow, from the same colors stigmatized in the song produced by Mr. Black in his Three Feathers, exhibiting the belief in Cornwall that “green’s forsaken and yellow’s forsworn.”
White is worn by the Saviour after his resurrection, by the Virgin in representations of the Assumption; by women as the emblem of chastity; by rich men to indicate humility, and by the judge as the symbol of integrity. It is represented sometimes by silver or the diamond, and its sentiment is purity, virginity, innocence, faith, joy, and light.
Red, the color of the ruby, speaks of royalty, fire, divine love, the holy spirit, creative power, and heat. In an opposite sense it symbolized blood, war, and hatred. Red and black combined were the colors of Satan, purgatory, and evil spirits. Red and white roses are emblems of love and innocence, or love and wisdom, as in the garland of St. Cecilia.
Blue, that of the sapphire, signified heaven, heavenly love and truth, constancy and fidelity. Christ and the Virgin Mary wear the blue mantle, St. John a blue tunic.
Green, the emerald, the color of spring, expressed hope and victory.
Yellow or gold was the emblem of the sun, the goodness of God, marriage and fruitfulness. St. Joseph and St. Peter wear yellow. Yellow has also a bad signification when it has a dirty, dingy hue, such as the usual dress of Judas, and then signifies jealousy, inconstancy, and deceit.
Violet or amethyst signified passion and suffering, or love and truth. Penitents, as the Magdalene, wear it. The Madonna wears it after the crucifixion, and Christ after the resurrection.
Gray is the color of penance, mourning, humility, or accused innocence.
Black with white signified humility, mourning, and purity of life. Alone, it spoke of darkness, wickedness, and death, and belonged to Satan. In pictures of the Temptation Jesus sometimes wears black.
It is probable that, at one time, the several colors, at least in the same Indian tribe, had each special significance. This general significance was, however, modified by specific positions of the colors.
Colors are generally applied at this day according to fancy and without regard to special signification. The warriors make a distinction when on the warpath, and when mourning a deceased relative or engaged in dances and religious ceremonies the members of most of the tribes still exhibit precise care in the selection and arrangement of color.
The Dakota at Grand River Agency, now abandoned, generally painted the face red from the eyes down to the chin when going to war. The whole face was blacked with charcoal or ashes when mourning. The women frequently resorted to this method of expressing grief.
The Absaroka, or Crow Indians, generally paint the forehead red when on the war-path. This distinction of the Crows is also noted by the Dakota in recording pictographic narratives of encounters with the Crows. See page 62, and Figures 124 et seq.
Haywood, Nat. and Aborig. Hist. of Tennessee, 1823, p. 228, says of the Cherokees:
“When going to war their hair is combed and annointed with bear’s grease and the red-root [Sanguinaria canadensis?], and they adorn it with feathers of various beautiful colours, besides copper and iron rings, and sometimes wampum or peak in the ears. And they paint their faces all over as red as vermillion, making a circle of black about one eye and another circle of white about the other.”
When a Modoc warrior paints his face black before going into battle it means victory or death, and he will not survive a defeat. See Bancroft’s Native Races, I, p. 333.
The Los Angeles County Indian girls paint the cheeks sparingly with red ocher when in love. (Bancroft, I, 403.) This prevails, to some extent also, among the northern bands of the Sioux, and among the Arikara at Fort Berthold, Dakota.
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey reports that when the Osage men go to steal horses from the enemy they paint their faces with charcoal.
The same authority gives the following description of the Osage paint for war parties:
Before charging the foe the Osages warriors paint themselves anew. This is called the death paint. If any of the men die with this paint on them the survivors do not put on any other paint.
All the gentes on the Tsiɔu side use the “fire paint” or iʞaman, which is red. It is applied by them with the left hand all over the face. And they use prayers about the fire: “As the fire has no mercy, so should we have none.” Then they put mud on the cheek below the left eye, as wide as two or more fingers. On the Hañʞa side this mud is put on the cheek, below the right eye. It is the young buffalo bull decoration (Tse-ʇú-ɔiñ´ʞa kínŭn itáadi aú). With reference to it, a man says, “My little grandfather (the young buffalo bull) is ever dangerous, as he makes attempts. Very close do I stand, ready to go to the attack” (Witsíʞu ɔiñ´ʞa wáckŭn nŭn´pewá¢ĕ ehnundi aú. Ecŭnqtsita waʞan´¢a d¢é atqan´hi aú!) The horse is painted with some of the mud on the left cheek, shoulder, and thigh.
For the corresponding Hanka decorations, substitute the right for the left wherever the latter word occurs above.
Some who act like a black bear paint with charcoal alone.
Some paint in the wind style, some in the lightning style, and others in the panther or puma style.
See also pages 85 and 162.
When a Thlinkit arms himself for war he paints his face and powders his hair a brilliant red. He then ornaments his head with white eagle-feathers, a token of stern vindictive determination. See Bancroft, Native Races, etc., I, page 105.
Blue signifies peace among the Indians of the Pueblo of Tesuque. See Schoolcraft, III, 306.
In several addresses before the Anthropological Society of Washington, D. C., and papers yet unpublished, in the possession of the Bureau of Ethnology, by Mr. James Stevenson, Dr. Washington Matthews, U. S. Army, and Mr. Thomas V. Keam, the tribes below are mentioned as using in their ceremonial dances the respective colors designated to represent the four cardinal points of the compass, viz.:
| N. | S. | E. | W. | |
| Stevenson—Zuñi | Yellow. | Red. |