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Sacred Colors Primitive healers, interior designers, fashionistas and scientists have long been aware of the power of color. There is some overlap between secular and religious interpretations of color symbolism, but color has always played a part in religion.
Color Groups Some societies see a meaning in the use of multiple colors with each contributing to the whole picture of life. Black, white, red, yellow, blue and green are the sacred colors of Buddhism. Hindus celebrate Holi as the festival of colors. The sacred colors of the Lakota tribe are red, white, yellow and black. To the Navajo, white, blue yellow and black are the sacred colors.
WHITE White symbolizes innocence and purity. Western brides often wear white or a variation of white such as ivory or blush. To the Cherokees, white evokes peace and happiness. In China, white is the color of mourning. The Roman Catholic Church uses white for joyful celebrations.
GOLD Gold often stands for God's glory. Buddhists use gold to indicate sacred fire. Gold can be used to replace white, red or green in the vestments of a Roman Catholic priest.
YELLOW Yellow represents joy. Yellow is used to represent life and God's presence in Kente cloth of Africa. Only the emperor of China, who was thought to link heaven and earth, was allowed to wear yellow. An exception was made for Buddhist monks who still wear saffron yellow, which is also sacred to Hindus.
GREEN Green is the universal color of life and hope. Dark green represents life in Buddhism. Green Tara is youthful and vigorous. Some Christian churches use green during the Trinity and Epiphany seasons. It is the color of faith, the Trinity, and often the color of the legendary Holy Grail. Green is the color of Irish Catholics. It is worn by Roman Catholic priests after Epiphany and Pentecost.
BLUE Blue often stands for spirituality, grace and truth. Buddhist rosaries are sometimes made entirely of turquoise, which represents long life and is a color of the goddess Tara. Turquoise also has special meaning for Native Americans of the Southwest as it did for the Persians and ancient Egyptians. The Blue Buddha is associated with healing. Blue is the Cherokee color for trouble. In Chinese and in Jewish symbolism, blue has always represents heaven, possibly because our ancestors linked blue sky with heaven. The usage of blue is becoming more popular in the Christian season of Advent. Traditional representations of the Madonna often show her in blue, perhaps for chastity. Lord Krishna of the Hindu faith is blue. Blue is also his color as Vishnu. Blue means holiness when it appears in African Kente cloth, which originated in Ghana. Pagan sky gods like Amun of ancient Egypt, the Greek Zeus and the Roman Jupiter are often represented by blue.
PURPLE Purple represents penance in the Roman Catholic Church. It is worn for days of fasting and for Lent as well as Advent and Septuagesima. It represents penitence. The purple robes of Roman Catholic cardinals are a strong red with blue undertones.
ROSE Roman Catholic priests sometime wear old rose near the end of Advent and the end of Lent to symbolize the coming seasons of rejoicing.
RED Red is the color of blood and fire. It can represent sacrifice and pain. To the Cherokees, red is symbolic of victory. The brides of India wear red to symbolize purity. In Polynesia, red was associated with the ancient deities as well as the nobility. In the Roman Catholic liturgy, red is worn in memory of Christ's Passion and on the feast days of the Apostles and the martyrs. The Red Cross and Red Crescent societies provide aid to those in need.
BLACK Black is the universal color of death and primordial darkness. It can represent mourning and sin. To Christians, black is the color associated with Good Friday, a day of mourning. Christian and Moslem clergy wear black to represent renunciation of secular life. The black goddesses of Hinduism, Durga and Kali, symbolize the duality of life and death.
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