Re: Religion (and Colour)

Colour symbolisms are interesting.

I know with the Nyungar people of the South Western corner of Western
Australia (where I live) there is the following colour seasonal mythos

Yellow ochre = Karl (Fire) = Sunrise, Spring, Infancy, Spirit
White Pipeclay = Waug (Air) = Noon, Summer, Youth, Mind
Red Ochre = Goolong (Earth-Blood) = Sunset, Autumn, Maturity, Body
Back Charcoal = Gabee (Water) = Midnight, Winter, Death-rebirth,
Emotions.

I know the North American Medecine Wheel also has a colour
symbolism. It is interesting that the absence of green and blue is
noted in many colour systems, and is linked I have seen suggested, in
part to the difficulty of finding these colours as natural dyes and
pigments, and partly to the colour separation of the cones and rods
of they eyes.

Do the IE colour cycles have such natural origins.

Regards

John

>
> Mr Gwinn on Ouranos:
> > Pokorny, IEW, pg 81
> > AU-
> > 9. AU[E]-, AUED-, AUER- "flowing"
> > c) AUER- "water/rain/river"
> > 4. UER-S "rain" (Greek ouron)
> >
> > The "-N-OS" in *UER-S-AN-OS is perhaps the divine suffix.
>
> Ah! Thanx. So we should be saying *?Wers@... then. The ending would

be more

> likely genitive, wouldn't it? I thought the "divine" prefix is *-

o:s with

> lengthened vowel. Hence "Of the rain"... Right... Cool.
>
> Joao, I found that quote from Mallory in "In Search of the

IndoEuropeans"

> concerning colour symbolism:
>
> One of the more obvious symbols of social tripartition
> is colour, emphasized by the fact that both ancient
> India and Iran expressed the concept of caste with
> the word for colour (varna). A survey of the social
> significance of different colours is fairly clear cut,
> at least for the first two functions. Indo-Iranian,
> Hittite, Celtic and Latin ritual all assign white to
> priests and red to the warrior. The third function
> would appear to have been marked by a darker colour
> such as black or blue. [...]
>
> As I've elaborated, the colour signifance would be primarily

associated with

> the realms and the colours found within them: Overworld (yellow,

bright

> blue), Middleworld (green) and Underworld (red). These also

happened to be

> the colours of the three seasons: winter, spring/summer, fall.

Since the

> priests were associated with the Overworld, the herder-cultivators

with the

> Middleworld and the warriors with the Underworld, the colour

symbolism was

> then transfered to these three social functions as well.
>
> Now... the idea of "red" being the Underworld colour is bugging me

as of

> late. If it stems from the colour of "blood", it would mean that

the colour

> symbolism was first associated with the castes (rather than the

seasons or

> the realms) since blood is associated with war. On the other hand,

there is

> no clear, unabstract reason to associate "white" with priests. It

could just

> as well be black or grey or tangerine. Further, while green can be

easily

> associable to the earthly realm (via plantlife), the association of

green to

> hunter-gatherers doesn't make so much sense. The "cultivator-

herder=green"

> association would have to have come later than the
> "Middleworld=Spring=green" associations. Therefore, one would

expect that

> the colour symbolism was first associated with the realms and

seasons. So,

> what's up with "red=Underworld" thing??
>
> Is it possible that the original steppe concept of the realms (pre-

5500 BCE)

> was such that a bright Heaven god (Tengri, Ilma, etc) lived in the

Overworld

> and that the Underworld was full of fire? (On a side note, the Sun

Goddess

> and Moon Lord might also come from this eastern direction, perhaps.)
>
> This mythological structure would be in slight contrast to the Old

European

> mythos where the Underworld was watery. What's the scoop on

this "fire in

> the water" story? Could there be something here concerning a

blending of two

> different mythologies and story traditions, perhaps? Food for

thought. Talk

> to me.
>
> - gLeN
>
>
>

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