Chapter LXXXVII: Section 3: Significance of Colors

The use of color to be considered in studies of pictography is probably to be traced to the practice of painting on the surface of the human body. This use is very ancient. The Ethiopians in the army of Xerxes applied vermillion and white plaster to their skins, and the German tribes when first known in history inscribed their breasts with the figures of divers animals. The North British clans were so much addicted to paint (or perhaps tattoo) that the epithet Picti was applied to them by the Romans. In this respect comparisons may be made with the Wichita, who were called by the French Pawnees Piqués, commonly rendered in English Pawnee Picts, and Marco de Niça, in Hakluyt, (_e_) says that Indians in the region of Arizona and New Mexico were called Pintados “because they painted their faces, breasts, and arms.” The general belief with regard to the employment of paint in the above and similar cases is that the colors had a tribal significance by which men became their own flags; the present form of flag not having great antiquity, as Clovis was the first among western monarchs to adopt it. Then the theory became current that colored devices, such as appeared on ensigns and on clothing, e. g., tartans, were imitated from the painted marks on the skin of the tribesmen. In this connection remarks made supra about tattoo designs are applicable. There is but little evidence in favor of the theory, save that fashions in colored decorations probably in time became tribal practices and so might have been evolved into emblems. But it is proper to regard such colorations as primarily ornamental, and to remember that even in England as late as the eighth century some bands of men were so proud of their decorated bodies that they refused to conceal them by clothes.

This topic may be divided into: 1. Decorative use of color. 2. Idiocrasy of colors. 3. Color in ceremonies. 4. Color relative to death and mourning. 5. Colors for war and peace. 6. Colors designating social status.

DECORATIVE USE OF COLOR.

The following notes give instances of the use of painting which appear to be purely decorative:

Fernando Alarchon, in Hakluyt, (_f_) says of the Indians of the Bay of California: “These Indians came decked after sundry fashions, some came with a painting that couered their face all ouer, some had their faces halfe couered, but all besmouched with cole and euery one as it liked him best.”

John Hawkins, in Hakluyt, (_g_) speaking of the Florida Indians, tells of “Colours both red, blacke, yellow, and russet, very perfect, wherewith they so paint their bodies and Deere skinnes which they weare about them, that with water it neither faded away nor altereth in color.”

Maximilian of Wied (_f_), reports:

Even in the midst of winter the Mandans wear nothing on the
upper part of the body, under their buffalo robe. They paint their
bodies of a reddish brown colour, on some occasions with white clay,
and frequently draw red or black figures on their arms. The face
is, for the most part, painted all over with vermillion or yellow,
in which latter case the circumference of the eyes and the chin are
red. There are, however, no set rules for painting, and it depends
on the taste of the Indian dandy; yet, still, a general similarity
is observed. The bands, in their dances and also after battles,
and when they have performed some exploit, follow the established
rule. In ordinary festivals and dances, and whenever they wish to
look particularly fine, the young Mandans paint themselves in every
variety of way, and each endeavors to find out some new mode. Should
he find another dandy painted just like himself, he immediately
retires and makes a change in the pattern, which may happen three or
four times during the festival. If they have performed an exploit,
the entire face is painted jet black.

A colored plate in the report of the Pacific Railroad Expedition (_f_) shows the designs adopted by the Mojave Indians for painting the body. These designs consist of transverse lines extending around the body, arms, and legs, or horizontal lines or different parts may partake of different designs. Clay is now generally used.

Everard F. im Thurn (_h_) describes the painting of the Indians of Guiana as follows:

The paint is applied either in large masses or in patterns. For
example, a man, when he wants to dress well, perhaps entirely coats
both his feet up to the ankles with a crust of red; his whole trunk
he sometimes stains uniformly with blue-black, more rarely with red,
or covers it with an intricate pattern of lines of either color;
he puts a streak of red along the bridge of his nose; where his
eyebrows were till he pulled them out he puts two red lines; at the
top of the arch of his forehead he puts a big lump of red paint, and
probably he scatters other spots and lines somewhere on his face.
The women, especially among the Ackawoi, who use more body-paint
than other ornament, are more fond of blue-black than of red; and
one very favorite ornament with them is a broad band of this, which
edges the mouth, and passes from the corners of that to the ears.
Some women especially affect certain little figures, like Chinese
characters, which look as if some meaning were attached to them, but
which the Indians are either unable or unwilling to explain.

Kohl (_a_) says of the Indians met by him around Lake Superior that “The young men only paint--no women. When they become old they stop and cease to pluck out their beards which are an obstacle in painting.” It is probable that the custom of plucking the hairs originated in the attempt to facilitate face and body painting.

Herndon (_b_) gives the following report from the valley of the Amazon:

Met a Conibo on the beach. This man was evidently the dandy of
his tribe. He was painted with a broad stripe of red under each eye;
three narrow stripes of blue were carried from one ear, across the
upper lip to the other--the two lower stripes plain, and the upper
one bordered with figures. The whole of the lower jaw and chin were
painted with a blue chain-work of figures, something resembling
Chinese figures.

According to Dr. J. J. von Tschudi (_b_):

The uncivilized Indians of Peru paint their bodies, but not
exactly in the tattoo manner; they confine themselves to single
stripes. The Sensis women draw two stripes from the shoulder, over
each breast, down to the pit of the stomach; the Pirras women paint
a band in a form of a girdle round the waist, and they have three of
a darker color round each thigh. These stripes, when once laid on,
can never be removed by washing. They are made with the unripe fruit
of one of the Rubiacaceæ. Some tribes paint the face only; others,
on the contrary, do not touch that part; but bedaub with colors
their arms, feet, and breasts.

F. J. Mouat, M. D., in Jour. Roy. Geogr. Soc., (_a_) says that Andaman Islanders rub red earth on the top of the head, probably for the purpose of ornamentation. This fashion is similar to that of some North American Indian tribes which rub red pigment on the parting of the hair.

Marcano (_e_) says:

The present Piaroas of Venezuela are in the habit of painting
their bodies, but by a different process. They make stamps out of
wood, which they apply to their skins after covering them with
coloring matter.

Fig. 982 shows examples of these stamps. The most noteworthy thing about them is that they reproduce the types of certain petroglyphs, particularly of those of the upper Cuchivero (see Figs. 152 and 153, supra).

The Piaroas either copied the models they found carved on the
rocks by peoples who preceded them, or they are aware of their
meaning and preserved the tradition of it. The former hypothesis is
the only tenable one. Not being endowed with inventive faculties,
it seems more natural that they should simply have copied the only
models they found. The Indians of French Guiana paint themselves in
order to drive away the devil when they start on a journey or for
war, whence Crevaux concludes that the petroglyphs must have been
carved for a religious purpose. But painting is to the Piaroas a
question of ornamentation and of necessity. It is a sort of garment
that protects them against insects, and which, applied with extra
care, becomes a fancy costume to grace their feasts and meetings.

It is to be noted that at least one instance is found of the converse of the Piaroa practice, by which the face-marks are used as the designs of pictographs on inanimate objects. The Serranos, near Los Angeles, California, formerly cut lines upon the trees and posts marking boundaries of land, these lines corresponding to those adopted by the owner as facial decorations.

A suggestion appropriate to this branch of the topic is presented in the answer communicated in a personal conversation of a Japanese lady who was asked why she blackened her teeth: “Any dog has white teeth!” An alteration of the physical appearance is itself a distinction, and the greater the difference between the decorated person and the want of decoration in others the greater the distinction. Modern milliners, dressmakers, tailors and hatters, and their patrons pursue the same ends of fashionable distinction which are exhibited in rivalry for priority and singularity. These arbitrary fluctuations of fashion, which are seen equally in the Mandan and the millionaire, the Pueblan and the Parisian, are to be considered with reference to the supposed tribal significance of colors before mentioned. So far as they originated in fashion they changed with fashion, and the studies made in the preparation of this paper tend to a disbelief in their distinctness and stability. The conservatism of religious and of other ceremonial practices and of social customs preserved, however, a certain amount of consistency and continuity.

IDEOCRASY OF COLORS.

It has often been asserted that there was and is an intrinsic significance in the several colors. A traditional recognition of this among the civilizations connected with modern Europe is shown by the associations of death and mourning with black, of innocence and peace with white, danger with red, and epidemic disease officially with yellow. A comparison of the diverse conceptions attached to the colors will show great variety in their several attributions.

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 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 essential consideration. With regard to early Christian art Mrs. Clement (_a_) furnishes the following account:

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.

The associations with the several colors above mentioned differ widely from those in modern folk-lore; for instance, those with green and yellow, the same colors being stigmatized in the old song that “green’s forsaken and yellow’s forsworn.”

The Hist. de Dieu, by Didron (_d_), contains the following:

The hierarchy of colors could well, in the ideas of the Middle
Ages, have been allied at the same time to symbolism. The most
brilliant color is gold, and here it is given to the greatest
saints. Silver, color of the moon, which is inferior to the sun, but
its companion, however, should follow; then red, or the color of
fire, attribute of those who struggle against passion, and which is
inferior to the two metals, gold and silver, to the sun and moon,
of which it is but an emanation; next green, which symbolizes hope,
and which is appropriate to married people; lastly, the uncertain
yellowish color, half white and half yellow, a modified color, which
is given to saints who were formerly sinners, but who have succeeded
in reforming themselves and are made somewhat bright in the sight of
God by penitence.

A note in the Am. Journal of Psychology, Vol. I, November, 1887, p. 190, gives another list substantially as follows:

Yellow, the color of gold and fire, symbolizes reason.

Green, the color of vegetable life, symbolizes utility and labor.

Red, the color of blood, symbolizes war and love.

Blue, the color of the sky, symbolizes spiritual life, duty, religion.

COLOR IN CEREMONIES.

The colors attributed to the cardinal points have been the subject of much discussion. Some of these special color schemes of the North American Indians are now mentioned.

Mr. James Stevenson, in an address before the Anthropological Society of Washington, D. C.; Dr. Washington Matthews, U. S. Army, in the Fifth Ann. Rep. of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 449; and Mr. Thomas V. Keam, in a MS. contribution, severally report the tribes mentioned below as using in their ceremonial dances the respective colors designated to represent the four cardinal points, viz:

N. S. E. W.
Stevenson--Zuñi Yellow. Red. White. Black.
Matthews--Navajo Black. Blue. White. Yellow.
Keam--Moki White. Red. Yellow. Blue.

Mr. Stevenson, in his paper on the Ceremonial of Hasjelti Dailjis, in the Eighth Ann. Rep. of the Bureau of Ethnology, agrees with Dr. Matthews regarding the ceremonial scheme of the Navajo colors symbolic of the cardinal points, as follows: “The eagle plumes were laid to the east, and near by them white corn and white shell; the blue feathers were laid to the south, with blue corn and turquoise; the hawk feathers were laid to the west, with yellow corn and abalone shell; and to the north were laid the whippoorwill feathers, with black beads and corn of all the several colors.”

In A Study of Pueblo Architecture, by Mr. Victor Mindeleff, in the Eighth Ann. Rep. of the Bureau of Ethnology, the prayers of consecration by the Pueblos are addressed thus:

To the west: Siky’ak oma’uwu Yellow cloud.
To the south: Sa’kwa oma’uwu Blue cloud.
To the east: Pal’a oma’uwu Red cloud.
To the north: Kwetsh oma’uwu White cloud.

Mr. Frank H. Cushing, in Zuñi Fetiches, Second Ann. Rep., Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 16-17, gives the following:

In ancient times, while yet all beings belonged to one family,
Po-shai-ang-k’ia, the father of our sacred bands, lived with his
children (disciples) in the City of the Mists, the middle place
(center) of the medicine societies of the world. When he was about
to go forth into the world he divided the universe into six regions,
namely, the North (Direction of the swept or barren place); the
West (Direction of the Home of the Waters); the South (Direction of
the Place of the Beautiful Red); the East (Direction of the Home of
Day); the Upper Regions (Direction of the Home of the High); and the
Lower Regions (Direction of the Home of the Low).

In the center of the great sea of each of these regions stood a
very ancient sacred place--a great mountain peak. In the North was
the Mountain Yellow, in the West the Mountain Blue, in the South the
Mountain Red, in the East the Mountain White, above the Mountain
All-color, and below the Mountain Black.

We do not fail to see in this clear reference to the natural
colors of the regions referred to--to the barren North and its
auroral hues, the West with its blue Pacific, the rosy South, the
white daylight of the east, the many hues of the clouded sky, and
the black darkness of the “caves and holes of earth.” Indeed these
colors are used in the pictographs and in all the mythic symbolism
of the Zuñis to indicate the directions or regions respectively
referred to as connected with them.

Mr. A. S. Gatschet (_a_), in Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., gives the symbolic colors of the Isleta Pueblo for the points of the compass, as “white for the east; from there they go to the north, which is black; to the west, which is blue; and to the south, which is red.”

Mr. James Mooney, in Seventh Ann. Rep., Bureau Ethnology, p. 342, says that the symbolic color system of the Cherokees is:

East--red--success; triumph.
North--blue--defeat; trouble.
West--black--death.
South--white--peace; happiness.

In the ceremonies of the Indians of the plains it is common that the smoke of the sacred pipe should be turned first directly upward, second directly downward, and then successively to the four cardinal points, but without absolute agreement among the several tribes as to the order of that succession. In James’ Long (_i_), it is reported that in a special ceremony of the Omaha regarding the buffalo the first whiff of smoke was directed to them, next to the heavens, next to the earth, and then successively to the east, west, north, and south. The rather lame explanation was given that the east was for sunrise, the west for sunset, the north for cold country, and the south for warm country.

The Count de Charencey, in Des Couleurs considérés comme symboles des Pointes de l’Horizon, etc., and in Ages ou Soleils, gives as the result of his studies that in Mexico and Central America the original systems were as follows:

_Quaternary system._ _Quinary system._
East--Yellow. South--Blue.
North--Black. East--Red.
West--White. North--Yellow.
South--Red. West--White.
Center--Black.

Mr. John Crawford (_a_) says:

In Java the divisions of the horizon and the corresponding
colors were named in the following order: first, white and the east;
second, red and the south; third, yellow and the west; fourth, black
and the north; and fifth, mixed colors and the focus or center.

Boturini (_a_) gives the following arrangement of the “symbols of the four parts or angles of the world,” comparing it with that of Gemelli:

_Gemelli._ _Boturini._
1. Tochtli--South. 1. Tecpatl--South.
2. Acatl--East. 2. Calli--East.
3. Tecpatl--North. 3. Tochtli--North.
4. Calli--West. 4. Acatl--West.

SYMBOLS OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS.

_Gemelli._ _Boturini._
1. Tochtli--Earth. 1. Tecpatl--Fire.
2. Acatl--Water. 2. Calli--Earth.
3. Tecpatl--Air. 3. Tochtli--Air.
4. Calli--Fire. 4. Acatl--Water.

Herrera (_a_) speaks only of the year symbols and colors, and, although he does not directly connect them, indicates his understanding in regard thereto by the order in which he mentions them:

They divided the year into four signs, being four figures; the
one of a house, another of a rabbit, the third of a cane, the fourth
of a flint, and by them they reckoned the year as it passed on. *
* * They painted a sun in the middle from which issued four lines
or branches in a cross to the circumference of the wheel, and they
turned so that they divided it into four parts and the circumference
and each of them moved with its branch of the same color, which were
four--green, blue, red, and yellow.

From this statement Prof. Cyrus Thomas, in Notes on certain Maya and Mexican Manuscripts, Third Ann. Rep., Bureau of Ethnology, concludes that Herrera’s arrangement would presumably be as follows:

Calli--Green.
Tochtli--Blue.
Acatl--Red.
Tecpatl--Yellow.

Combining these several lists it would appear that Calli, color green, was Fire and West or Earth and East; Tochtli, color blue, was Earth and South or Air and North; Acatl, color red, was Water and East or Water and West; Tecpatl, color yellow, was Air and North or Fire and South.

The foregoing notes leave the symbolic colors of the cardinal points in a state of confusion, and on calm reflection no other condition could be expected. Taking the idea of the ocean blue, for instance, and recognizing the impressive climatic effects of the ocean, the people examined may be in any direction from the ocean and to each of them its topographic as well as color relation differs. If it shall be called blue, the color blue may be north, south, east, or west. So as to the concepts of heat and cold, however presented in colors by the fancy, heat being sometimes red and sometimes yellow, cold being sometimes considered as black by the manifestation of its violent destruction of the tissues and sometimes being more simply shown as white, the color of the snow. Also the geographic situation of the people must determine their views of temperature. The sun in tropical regions may be an object of terror, in Arctic climes of pure beneficence, and in the several seasons of more temperate zones the sun as fire, whether red or yellow, may be destructive or life-giving. Regarding the symbols of the cardinal points it seems that there is nothing intrinsic as to colors, but that the ideograms connected with the topic are local and variant. As the ancient assignments of color to the cardinal points are not established and definite among people who have been long settled in their present habitat, the hope of tracing their previous migration by that line of investigation may not be realized.

The following account of the degree posts of the Grand Medicine Society of the Ojibwa is condensed from an article by Dr. Hoffman in the Am. Anthropologist for July, 1889:

In constructing the inclosure in which the Midē' priests
practice the rites and ceremonies of initiation, a single post, from
4 to 5 feet in height and about 8 inches thick, is planted at a
point opposite the main entrance, and about three-fourths the entire
distance of the interior from it. This post is painted red, with a
band of green about the top, of the width of a palm.

The red and green colors are used to designate the Midē'
society, but for what reason is not positively known. The green
appears to have some connection with the south, the sources of
heat and abundance of crops; the thunder-bird also comes from that
direction in the springtime, bringing rain, which causes the grass
and fruits to grow, giving an abundance of food.

For the second degree two posts are erected within the
inclosure, the first being like that for the first degree, the
second being planted nearer the main entrance, though not far from
the opposite end of the structure; this post is painted red and is
covered with white spots made by applying white clay with the finger
tip. These spots are symbolical of the migis shell, the sacred
emblem of the Grand Medicine Society.

The third degree contains three posts, the two preceding ones
being used, to which a third is added and planted in a line with
them; this post is painted black.

In the fourth degree the additional post is really a cross, a
crosspiece of wood being attached near the top; the lower part of
the upright piece is squared, the side on the east being painted
white; on the south, green; on the west, red; and on the north,
black. The white is the source of light facing the direction of the
rising sun, the green, apparently the source of warmth, rains, and
abundance of crops, while the north is black, and pertains to the
region from which come cold, disease, and desolation. The red is
placed upon the western side, but there is a diversity of opinion
regarding its significance. The most plausible theory appears to
relate to the “road of the dead,” referred to in the ritual of the
Ghost Society, as the path upon which the departed shadow partakes
of the gigantic strawberry which he finds. The upper portion of the
cross is white, upon which are placed irregularly red spots.

In the same article is the following account of face coloring in the Midē' degrees:

In connection with the colors of the degree posts, there is a
systematic arrangement of facial ornamentation, each style to be
characteristic of one of the four degrees, as well as the degree of
the Ghost Society.

According to the White Earth (Minnesota) method, the arrangement
is as follows:

First degree. One red stripe across the face from near the ears
across the tip of the nose.

Second degree. One stripe as above and another across the eyes,
temples, and root of the nose.

Third degree. The upper half of the face painted green and the
lower half red.

Fourth degree. The forehead and the left side of the face from
the outer canthus of the eye downward is painted green; four spots
of vermilion are made with the tip of the finger upon the forehead
and four upon the green surface of the left cheek.

According to Sikassige, a Mille Lacs Midē' priest, the
ornamentation practiced during his youth was as follows:

First degree. A broad band of green across the forehead and a
narrow stripe of vermilion across the face just below the eyes.

Second degree. A narrow stripe of vermilion across the temple,
eyelids, and the root of the nose, a short distance above which is a
similar stripe of green, then another of vermilion, and above this
again one of green.

Third degree. Red and white spots are daubed all over the face,
the spots averaging three-fourths of an inch each in diameter.

Fourth degree. Two forms are admissible; in the former the face
is painted red, with a stripe of green extended diagonally across it
from the upper part of the left temporal region to the lower part
of the right cheek. In the latter the face is painted red with two
short, horizontal parallel green bars across the forehead.

Either of these may be adopted as a sign of mourning by a man
whose deceased son had been intended for the priesthood of the Grand
Medicine Society.

The religious and ceremonial use of the color red by the New Zealanders is mentioned by Taylor (_d_):

Closely connected with religion, was the feeling they
entertained for the Kura, or Red Paint, which was the sacred color;
their idols, Pataka, sacred stages for the dead, and for offerings
or sacrifices, Urupa graves, chief’s houses, and war canoes, were
all thus painted.

The way of rendering anything tapu was by making it red. When
a person died, his house was thus colored; when the tapu was laid
on anything, the chief erected a post and painted it with the kura;
wherever a corpse rested, some memorial was set up, oftentimes the
nearest stone, rock, or tree served as a monument; but whatever
object was selected, it was sure to be made red. If the corpse were
conveyed by water, wherever they landed a similar token was left;
and when it reached its destination, the canoe was dragged on shore,
thus distinguished, and abandoned. When the hahunga took place,
the scraped bones of the chief, thus ornamented, and wrapped in a
red-stained mat, were deposited in a box or bowl, smeared with the
sacred color, and placed in a tomb. Near his final resting place a
lofty and elaborately carved monument was erected to his memory;
this was called he tiki, which was also thus colored.

In former times the chief anointed his entire person with red
ocher; when fully dressed on state occasions, both he and his
wives had red paint and oil poured upon the crown of the head and
forehead, which gave them a gory appearance, as though their skulls
had been cleft asunder.

Mr. S. Gason reports in Worsnop, op. cit.:

On the Cooper, Herbert, and Diamentina rivers of the North there
are no paintings in caves, but in special corroborees the bodies of
the leading dancers are beautifully painted with every imaginable
color, representing man, woman, animals, birds, and reptiles, the
outlines being nearly faultless, and in proportion, independent of
the blending of the colors.

These paintings take about seven or eight hours’ hard tedious
work for two men, one in front, the other at the back of the man
who is to be painted, and when these men who are painted display
themselves, surrounded by bright fires and rude torches, it has an
enchanting effect to the others. After the ceremony is over, the
paintings are allowed to be examined, and the artists congratulated
or criticised.

At the other ceremonies, after returning from “Bookatoo” (red
ocher expedition), they paint a few of their dancers with all the
colors of the rainbow, the outlines showing all the principal
species of snakes. They are well drawn and colored, and take many
hours of labor to complete.

These paintings of snakes are done for the purpose of having a
good harvest of snakes. The women are not allowed to attend at this
ceremony, as it is one of their strict secret dances.

A few notes of other ceremonial and religious uses of color are presented.

Capt. John G. Bourke (_f_) says that the Moki employ the colors in prayers--yellow for pumpkins, green for corn, and red for peaches. Black and white bands are typical of rain, and red and blue bands, of lightning.

In James’s Long (_k_), it is mentioned of the Omaha that the boy who goes to fast on the hill top to see his guardian spirit, as a preparation rubs his body over with whitish clay, but the same ceremonial among the Ouenebigonghelins near Hudson bay is described by Bacqueville de la Potherie (_d_), with the statement that the postulant paints his face black.

Peter Martyr (_a_) says the natives of the Island of Hispaniola [Haiti] when attending a festival at the religious edifice, go in a procession having their bodies and faces painted in black, red, and yellow colors. Some had feathers of the parrot and other birds, with which they decorated themselves. The women had no decoration.

Pénicaut’s Relation, A. D. 1704, in Margry (_f_), gives an account of decorations of the victims who die with the grand chief, or Sun of the Natchez. Their faces were painted vermilion, as the author says, “lest they by paleness should show their fear.” Though the practice may have thus originated as a mere expedient, red thus used would become in time a sacrificial color.

But the color red can not always be deduced from such an origin. It is connected with the color of fire and of blood. The Romans on great festivals painted the face of Jupiter Capitolinus with vermilion. They painted in the same way all the statues of the gods, demi-gods, heroes, fauns, and satyrs. Pan is described by Virgil in Ecl. X, line 27:

Pan, deus Arcadiæ venit, quem vidimus ipsi
Sanguineis ebuli baccis minioque rubentem.

These verses are rendered with spirit by R. C. Singleton, Virgil in English Rhythm, London, 1871, though the translator wrote “cinnabar” instead of “red lead” and might as well have used the correct word, “minium,” which has the same prosodial quantity as cinnabar.

Pan came, the god of Arcady, whom we
Ourselves beheld, with berries bloody red
Of danewort, and with cinnabar aglow.

In Chapman’s translation of Homer’s hymn to Pan the god is again represented stained with red, but with the original idea of blood.

A lynx’s hide, besprinkled round about
With blood, cast on his shoulders.

By imitation of greatness and the semblance of divinity the faces of generals when they rode in triumph, e. g., Camillus as mentioned by Pliny, quoting Verrius, were painted red.

On the tree which supports the Vatican figure of the Apollo Belvedere are traces of an object supposed to be the στέμμα δελφικόν, which was composed of bushy tufts of Delphian laurel bound with threads of red wool into a series of knots and having at each end a tassel. This is an old sign of consecration and is possibly connected with the traditional gipsy sign of mutual binding in love signified by a red knot, as mentioned in a letter from Mr. Charles G. Leland.

The Spaniards distinguished red as the color par excellence, and among many of the savage and barbaric peoples red is the favorite and probably once was the sacred color.

COLOR RELATIVE TO DEATH AND MOURNING.

Charlevoix (_a_) says of the Micmacs that “their mourning consisted in painting themselves black and in great lamentations.”

Champlain (_f_), in 1603, described the mourning posts of the northeastern Algonquian tribes as painted red.

Keatings’ Long (_g_) tells that the Sac Indians blackened themselves with charcoal in mourning and during its continuance did not use any vermilion or other color for ornamentation.

Some of the Dakota tribes blackened the whole face with charcoal for mourning, but ashes were also frequently employed.

Col. Dodge (_a_) says that the Sioux did not use the color green in life, but that the corpses were wrapped in green blankets. The late Rev. S. D. Hinman, who probably was, until his death within the last year, the best authority concerning those Indians, contradicts this statement in a letter, declaring that the Sioux frequently use the color green in their face-painting, especially when they seek to disguise themselves, as it gives so different an expression. If it is not used as generally as blue or yellow the reason is that it is seldom found in the clays which were formerly relied upon and therefore it required compounding. Also they do not use green as painting or designation for the dead, but red, that being their decoration for the “happy hunting ground.” But the color for the mourning of the survivors is black.

Thomas L. McKenny (_a_) says the Chippeway men mourn by painting their faces black.

The Winnebago men blacken the whole face with charcoal in mourning. The women make a round black spot on both cheeks.

Dr. Boas, in Am. Anthrop. (_a_), says of Snanaimuq, a Salish tribe:

The face of the deceased is painted red and black. After the
death of husband or wife the survivor must paint his legs and his
blanket red. For three or four days he must not eat anything; then
three men or women give him food, and henceforth he is allowed to
eat.

In Bancroft (_d_) it is mentioned that the Guatemalan widower dyed his body yellow.

Carl Bock (_b_) describes the mourning solemnities in Borneo as being marked chiefly by white, the men and women composing the mourning processions being enveloped in white garments, and carrying white flags and weapons and ornaments, all of which were covered with white calico.

A. W. Howitt (_h_) says of the Dieri of Central Australia:

A messenger who is sent to convey the intelligence of a death
is smeared all over with white clay. On his approach to the camp
the women all commence screaming and crying most passionately. * *
* Widows and widowers are prohibited by custom from uttering a word
until the clay of mourning has worn off, however long it may remain
on them. They do not, however, rub it off, as doing so would be
considered a bad omen. It must absolutely wear off of itself. During
this period they communicate by means of gesture language.

A. C. Haddon (_b_) tells that among the western tribes of Torres strait plastering the body with gray mud was a sign of mourning.

Elisée Reclus (_c_) says: “In sign of mourning the Papuans daub themselves in white, yellow, or black, according to the tribes.”

D’Albertis (_d_) reports that the women of New Guinea paint themselves black all over on the death of a relation, but that there are degrees of mourning among the men, e. g., the son of the deceased paints his whole body black, but other less related mourners may only paint the face more or less black. In Vol. II, p. 9, a differentiation is shown, by which in one locality the women daubed themselves from head to foot with mud. The same author says, in the same volume, p. 378, that the skulls preserved in their houses are always colored red and their foreheads frequently marked with some rough design.

In Armenia, as told in The Devil Worshipers of Armenia, in Scottish Geog. Mag., VIII, p. 592, widows dress in white.

In Notes in East Equatorial Africa, Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop. de Brux. (_b_), it is told that in the region mentioned the women rub flour over their bodies on the death or departure of the husband.

Sir G. Wilkinson (_a_) writes that the ancient Egyptians in their mourning ceremonies wore white fillets, and describes the same use of the color white in the funeral processions painted on the walls of Thebes.

Dr. S. Wells Williams (_a_) reports of the Chinese mourning colors that “the mourners are dressed entirely in white or wear a white fillet around the head. In the southern districts half-mourning is blue, usually exhibited in a pair of blue shoes and a blue silken cord woven in the queue, instead of a red one; in the northern provinces white is the only mourning color seen.”

Herr von Brandt, in the Ainos and Japanese, Journal of the Anthrop. Inst. G. B. and I. (_e_), tells that the coffins of the deceased Mikados were covered with red, that is, with cinnabar.

COLORS FOR WAR AND PEACE.

These colors, respecting the Algonquian Indians, are mentioned in 1763, as published in Margry, to the effect that red feathers on the pipe signify war, and that other colors [each of which may have a modifying or special significance] mean peace.

W. W. H. Davis (_b_) recounts that “in 1680 the Rio Grande Pueblos informed the Spanish officers that they had brought with them two crosses, one painted red, which signified war, and the other white, which indicated peace, and they might take their choice between the two.”

Capt. de Lamothe Cadillac (_b_), writing in the year 1696 of the Algonquians of the Great Lake region near Mackinac, etc., describes their decorations for war as follows:

On the day of departure the warriors dress in their best. They
color their hair red; they paint their faces red and black with much
skill and taste, as well as the whole of their bodies. Some have
headdresses with the tail feathers of eagles or other birds; others
have them decorated with the teeth of wild beasts, such as the wolf
or tiger [wild cat]. Several adorn their heads, in lieu of hats,
with helmets bearing the horns of deer, roebuck, or buffalo.

Schoolcraft (_r_) says that blue signifies peace among the Indians of the Pueblo of Tesuque.

The Dakota bands lately at Grand river agency had the practice of painting the face red from the eyes down to the chin when going to war.

The Absaroka or Crow Indians generally paint the forehead red when on the warpath. This distinction of the Crows is also noted by the Dakota in recording pictographic narratives of encounters with the Crows.

Haywood (_e_) 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 colors, besides copper and
iron rings, and sometimes wampum or peak in the ears; and they paint
their faces all over as red as vermilion, making a circle of black
about one eye and another circle of white about the other.

H. H. Bancroft (_e_) tells that when a Modoc warrior paints his face black before going into battle it means victory or death, and that he will not survive a defeat. In the same volume, p. 105, he says that when a Thlinkit arms himself for war he paints his face and powders his hair a brilliant red. He then ornaments his head with a white eagle feather as a token of stern, vindictive determination.

Mr. Dorsey reports that when the Osage men go to steal horses from the enemy they paint their faces with charcoal. [Possibly this may be for disguise, on the same principle that burglars use black crape.] The same authority gives the following description of the Osage paint for war parties:

Before charging the foe the Osage 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 “Left” side use the “fire paint,” 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. The horse is painted with some
of the mud on the left cheek, shoulder, and thigh.

The following extract is from Belden (_b_):

The sign paints used by the Sioux Indians are not numerous, but
very significant. When the warriors return from the warpath and have
been successful in bringing back scalps, the squaws, as well as the
men, paint with vermilion a semicircle in front of each ear. The bow
of the arc is toward the nose and the points of the half-circle on
the top and bottom of the ear; the eyes are then reddened and all
dance over the scalps.

John Lawson (_a_) says of the North Carolina Indians:

When they go to war * * * they paint their faces all over red,
and commonly make a circle of black about one eye and another circle
of white about the other, while others bedaub their faces with
tobacco-pipe clay, lampblack, black lead, and divers other colors,
etc.

De Brahm, in documents connected with the History of South Carolina (_a_), reports that the Indians of South Carolina “painted their faces red in token of friendship and black in expression of warlike intentions.”

Rev. M. Eells (_a_) says of the Twana Indians of the Skokomish reservation that when about to engage in war “they would tamanamus in order to be successful and paint themselves with black and red, making themselves as hideous as possible.”

The U. S. Exploring Expedition (_b_), referring to a tribe near the Sacramento river, tells that the chief presented them with a tuft of white feathers stuck on a stick about 1 foot long, which was supposed to be a token of friendship.

Dr. Boas, in Am. Anthrop. (_b_), says of the Snanaimuq that before setting out on war expeditions they painted their faces red and black.

Peter Martyr (_b_) says of the Ciguaner Indians:

The natives came out of the forest painted and daubed with
spots. For it is their custom, when they go to war, to daub
themselves from the face to the knee with black and scarlet or
purple color in spots, which color they [obtain] from some curious
fruits resembling “Pyren,” which they plant and cultivate in their
gardens with the greatest care. Similarly they also cause the hair
to grow in a thousand very curious shapes, if it is not by nature
long or black enough, so that they look not otherwise than if the
similar devil or hellish Circe came running out of hell.

Curr (_c_) tells that the Australians whitened themselves with white clay when about to engage in war. Some African tribes, according to Du Chaillu, also paint their faces white for war.

Haddon (_c_) says of the western tribe of Torres straits:

When going to fight the men painted their bodies red, either
entirely so or partially, perhaps only the upper portion of the body
and the legs below the knees, or the head and upper part of the body
only. The body was painted black all over by those who were actually
engaged in the death dance.

Du Chaillu (_c_) tells that among the Scandinavians there were peace and war shields, the former white and the latter red. When the white was hoisted on a ship it was a sign for the cessation of hostility, in the same manner that a flag of the same color is now used to procure or mark a truce. The red shield displayed on a masthead or in the midst of a body of men was the sign of hostility.

COLOR DESIGNATING SOCIAL STATUS.

The following extract is translated, from Peter Martyr (_c_):

For the men are in body long and straight, possess a vivid and
natural complexion which compares somewhat with a red and genuine
flesh color. Their whole body and skin is lined over with sundry
paints and curious figures, which they consider as a handsome
ornament and fine decoration, and the uglier a man’s painting or
lining over is the prettier he considers himself to be, and is also
regarded as the most noble among their number.

Mr. Dorsey reports of the Osages that all the old men who have been distinguished in war are painted with the decorations of their respective gentes. That of the Tsicu wactake is as follows: The face is first whitened all over with white clay; then a red spot is made on the forehead and the lower part of the face is reddened; then with the fingers the man scrapes off the white clay, forming the dark figures by letting the natural color of the face show through.

H. H. Bancroft (_f_), citing authorities, says the central Californians (north of San Francisco bay) formerly wore the down of Asclepias (?) (white) as an emblem of royalty; and in the same volume, p. 691, it is told that the natives of Guatemala wore red feathers in their hats, the nobles only wearing green ones.

The notes immediately following are about the significant use of color, not readily divisible into headings.

Belden (_c_) furnishes the following remarks:

The Yanktons, Sioux, Santees, and Cheyennes use a great deal
of paint. A Santee squaw paints her face the same as a white woman
does, only with less taste. If she wishes to appear particularly
taking she draws a red streak half an inch wide from ear to ear,
passing it over the eyes, the bridge of the nose, and along the
middle of the cheek. When a warrior desires to be left alone he
takes black paint or lampblack and smears his face; then he draws
zigzag lines from his hair to his chin by scraping off the paint
with his nails. This is a sign that he is trapping, is melancholy,
or in love.

A Sioux warrior who is courting a squaw usually paints his eyes
yellow and blue and the squaw paints hers red. I have known squaws
to go through the painful operation of reddening the eye-balls,
that they might appear particularly fascinating to the young men.
A red stripe drawn horizontally from one eye to the other means
that the young warrior has seen a squaw he could love if she would
reciprocate his attachment.

As narrated by H. H. Bancroft, the Los Angeles county Indian girls paint the cheeks sparingly with red ocher when in love. This also prevails among the Arikara, at Fort Berthold, Dakota.

La Potherie (_e_) says that the Indian girls of a tribe near Hudson bay, when they have arrived at the age of puberty, at the time of its sign, daub themselves with charcoal or a black stone, and in far distant Yucatan, according to Bancroft (_h_), the young men restricted themselves to black until they were married, indulging afterwards in varied and bright colored figures.

The color green is chiefly used symbolically as that of grass, with reference to which Father De Smet’s MS. on the dance of the Tinton Sioux contains these remarks: “Grass is the emblem of charity and abundance; from it the Indians derive the food for their horses and it fattens the wild animals of the plains, from which they derive their subsistence.”

Brinton (_d_) gives the following summary:

Both green and yellow were esteemed fortunate colors by the
Cakchiquels, the former as that of the flourishing plant, the latter
as that of the ripe and golden ears of maize. Hence, says Coto, they
were also used to mean prosperity.

The color white, _zak_, had, however, by far the widest
metaphorical uses. As the hue of light, it was associated with day,
dawn, brightness, etc.

Marshall (_b_) gives as the explanation why certain gracious official documents are sealed with green that the color expresses youth, honor, beauty, and especially liberty.

H. M. Stanley (_a_) gives the following use of white as a sign of innocence: “Qualla drew a piece of pipeclay and marked a broad white band running from the wrist to the shoulder along each arm of Ngalyema, as a sign to all men present that he was guiltless.”

H. Clay Trumbull (_a_) says:

The Egyptian amulet of blood friendship was red, as representing
the blood of the gods. The Egyptian word for “red” sometimes stood
for “blood.” The sacred directions in the Book of the Dead were
written in red; hence follows our word “rubrics.” The rabbis say
that, when persecution forbade the wearing of the phylacteries
with safety, a red thread might be substituted for this token of
the covenant with the Lord. It was a red thread which Joshua gave
to Rahab as a token of her covenant relations with the people of
the Lord. The red thread, in China, to-day, binds the double cup,
from which the bride and bridegroom drink their covenant draught
of “wedding wine,” as if in symbolism of the covenant of blood.
And it is a red thread which, in India, to-day, is used to bind a
sacred amulet around the arm or the neck. * * * Upon the shrines in
India the color red shows that worship is still living there; red
continues to stand for blood.

Mr. Mooney, in the Seventh Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, shows that to the Cherokee the color blue signifies grief or depression of spirits, a curious parallel to the colloquial English phrase “has the blues” and wholly opposite to the poetical symbol of blue for hope.

The notes above collected on the general topic of color symbolism might be indefinitely extended. Those presented, however, are typical and perhaps sufficient for the scope of the present work. In regarding ideography of colors the first object is to expunge from consideration all merely arbitrary or fanciful decorations, which is by no means easy, as ancient customs, even in their decadence or merely traditional, preserve a long influence. But as a generalization it seems that all common colors have been used in historic times for nearly all varieties of ideographic expression by the several divisions of men, and that they have differed fundamentally in the application of those colors. Yet there was an intelligent origin in each one of those applications of color. With regard to mourning the color black is now considered to be that of gloom. It was still earlier expressed by casting ashes or earth over the head and frame, and possibly the somber paint was adopted for cleanliness, the concept being preserved and indeed intensified by durable blackness instead of the mere transient dinginess of dirt, although the actual defilement by the latter is thereby only symbolized. This gloom is the expression of the misery of the survivors, perhaps of their despair as not expecting any happiness to the dead or any hope of a meeting in another world. Other lines of thought are shown by blue, considered as the supposed sky or heavenly home of the future, and by green, as suggesting renewal or resurrection, and those concepts determine the mourning color of some peoples. Red or yellow may only refer to the conceptions of the colors of flames, and therefore might simply be an objective representation of the disposition of the corpse, which very often was by cremation. But sometimes these colors are employed as decoration and display to proclaim that the dead go to glory. White, used as frequently by the populations of the world as other funeral colors, may have been only to assert the purity and innocence of the departed, an anticipation of the flattering obituary notices or epitaphs now conventional in civilized lands.

With regard to the color red, it may be admitted that it originally represents blood; but it may be, and in fact is, used for the contradictory concepts of war and peace. It is used for war as suggesting the blood of the enemy, for peace and friendship to signify the blood relation or blood covenant, the strongest tie of love and friendship.

So it would seem that, while colors have been used ideographically, the ideas which determined them were very diverse and sometimes their application has become wholly conventional and arbitrary. A modern military example may be in point which has no connection with the well-known squib of an English humorist. One of the officers of the U. S. Army of the last generation when traveling in Europe was much disgusted to observe that a green uniform was used in some of the armies for the corps of engineers and for branches of the service other than rifles or tirailleurs. He insisted that the color naturally and necessarily belongs to the Rifles, because the soldiers of that arm when clad with that color were most useful as skirmishers in wooded regions. This reason for the selection of green for the riflemen who composed a part of the early army of the United States is correct, but in the necessity for the distinction of special uniforms for the several component parts of a military establishment, whether in Europe or America, the original and often obsolete application of color was wholly disregarded and colors were selected simply because they were not then appropriated by other branches of the service. So in the late formation of the signal corps of the U. S. Army, the color of orange, which had belonged to the old dragoons, was adopted simply because it was a good color no longer appropriated.

With these changes by abandonment and adoption comes fashion, which has its strong effect. It is even exemplified where least expected, i. e., in Stamboul. Every one knows that the descendants of the Prophet alone are entitled to wear green turbans, but a late Sultan, not being of the blood of Mohammed, could not wear the color, so the emirs who could do so carefully abstained from green in his presence and the color for the time was unfashionable.

As the evolution of clothing commenced with painting and tattooing, it may be admitted that what is now called fashion must have had its effect on the earlier as on the later forms of personal decoration. Granting that there was an ideographic origin to all designs painted on the person, the ambition or vanity of individuals to be distinctive and to excel must soon have introduced varieties and afterward imitations of such patterns, colors, or combinations as favorably struck the local taste. The subject therefore is much confused.

An additional suggestion comes from the study of the Mexican codices. In them color often seems to be used according to the fancy of the scribe. Compare pages 108 and 109 of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough, Vol. II, with pages 4 and 5 of the Codex Telleriano Remensis, in part 4 of Kingsborough, Vol. I, where the figures and their signification are evidently the same, but the coloration is substantially reversed.

A comparison of Henry R. Schoolcraft’s published coloration with the facts found by the recent examination of the present writer is set forth with detail on page 202, supra.

In his copious illustrations colors were exhibited freely and with stated significance, whereas, in fact, the general rule in regard to the birch-bark rolls is that they were never colored at all; indeed, the bark was not adapted to coloration. His colors were painted on and over the true scratchings, according to his own fancy. The metaphorical coloring was also used by him in a manner which, to any thorough student of the Indian philosophy and religions, seems absurd. Metaphysical significance is attached to some of the colored devices, or, as he calls them, symbols, which could never have been entertained by a people in the stage of culture of the Ojibwa, and those devices, in fact, were ideograms or iconograms.