Color symbolism plays an important role in Cherokee culture. Colors represent ideas, feelings, sacred beings, and connect the Cherokee people to the natural and spiritual worlds. By understanding the meanings behind different colors, we gain insight into Cherokee beliefs, values, art, and traditions. This article will provide a guide to the symbolism and significance of colors for the Cherokee.
Red
The color red holds deep meaning for the Cherokee people. It represents life, success, triumph, passion, strength, courage, and vitality. Red is associated with the east, where the sun rises each day, bringing new beginnings. It is the color of fire, blood, and the living earth.
In Cherokee tradition, red symbolizes war and violence, but also positive concepts like achievement and leadership. Warriors painted their bodies with red clay before battle. Red paint was used in victory dances and applied to returning warriors. Red also represents love, specifically romantic love and fertility. Brides wore red clothing and painted their bodies with red clay.
Red continues to be an important color in contemporary Cherokee art and crafts. Red bird effigy bowls and pots connect the Cherokee with the cardinal, a red-colored bird that symbolizes vitality. Red patterned baskets honor the tradition of red clay body paint.
White
White represents purity, spirituality, innocence, wisdom, peace, enlightenment, and transcendence in Cherokee culture. It is associated with the north, snow, the Moon, and ghosts. White animals like deer and rabbits are considered messengers from the spirit world. Elders and spiritual leaders often wear white clothing.
In healing practices, white represents cleansing. Medicine people paint patients with white clay to purify the body, mind, and spirit. White quartz crystal is used to filter impurities and restore balance. White pigment made from kaolin clay is used in ritual face painting and mask making.
White symbolizes the peace between tribes established by the Great Peacemaker who founded the Iroquois Confederacy. The Cherokee Nation flag has seven white stars representing the seven clans united in peace. Today, Cherokee artists incorporate white into pottery, beadwork, and basket weaving.
Black
Black represents death, night, the west, and the underground world, but it also symbolizes intuition, potential, germination, and the womb. Caves, springs, and deep bodies of water are associated with black and considered entrances to the spirit world.
Cherokee shamans use black stones and obsidian in divination rituals to connect with spirits and see the truth. Black smoky quartz is carried as a grounding and protective stone. In helmet masks, black represents the unknown, including death.
Blackberry dye is traditionally used for dark basketry. Modern Cherokee artists use black to depict figures from myths, animals of the night like panthers, and the darkness of the Stomp Dance communal gathering.
Yellow
Yellow symbolizes sunshine, joy, intellect, and new life. It represents the east, dawn, and the coming of spring. Yellow’s associations with renewal connect it to fertility and medicine. Yellow salve made from plant materials is used for wound healing.
Cherokee myths tell of a yellow-haired people from the south who taught agriculture, architecture, and governance. Today, yellow ochre provides the base color for Cherokee ceremonial masks representing harvest, fertility, and medicine. Yellow symbolizes the path of pollen that spreads new plants.
Cherokee cornmeal is made from yellow maize. Stomp dancers carry yellow tobacco to offer in exchange for wisdom from the medicine people tending the fire. Yellow continues to represent light, life, and guidance in Cherokee culture.
Green
Green represents nature, fertility, growth, harmony, balance, and the Cherokee’s close ties to plants, animals, and the forest. It is associated with the south, summer, trees, vegetation, and corn. The Cherokee use green pigments from nature – verdigris, malachite, and other minerals – for art and ceremonies.
Green symbolizes restorative medicine and the plants used for healing. The Frog, a figure from Cherokee myths, is typically shown with green skin representing renewal. Green gourd rattles played by medicine people conjure lush summer rains.
The Cherokee believe they were born from a reed at the heart of the forest. Green thus connects them to their origins. Today it remains a sacred color representing the mountains, wilderness, and plants that sustain the Cherokee people.
Blue
Blue represents sky, wind, air, wisdom, dreams, and inspiration. It is connected to the west and twilight. Bird and butterfly effigies are carved from blue pipestone. Blue corn dye made from the ivy leaf morning glory vine produces blue baskets symbolizing spirituality.
Cherokees trace their ancestry back to the Blue Clan, one of the seven original clans. Blue clothing was traditionally worn during spirit journeys and vision quests. Blue also represents grief and sorrow. Night spirits called blue ghosts are believed to cause sadness and loneliness.
Contemporary Cherokee artists work with indigo dye and invented blue pigments to create blue artworks depicting mythic figures, spirit beings, and ceremonies. Blue conveys openness, imagination, and faith in Cherokee culture.
Purple
In Cherokee culture, purple represents feminine spirituality and power. Purple combines the passion of red with the spirituality of white. Light purple pigment is made from a violet flower called the dogtooth daisy. The purple tint is applied to masks, clothing, and other objects imbued with spiritual strength.
Purple represented magic and mystery in ancient times. Only those trained in esoteric knowledge wore the color purple. Later, it became associated with high rank and ambition. Purple garments were worn by leaders, chiefs, and healers to display their elevated status.
Violet basketry traditionally honors feminine deities like Corn Woman. Purple continues to be incorporated into sacred items, altar tools, textiles, and other handicrafts to represent the interconnectedness between male and female energies.
Orange
Orange represents vitality, success, abundance, harvest, fire, and the changing seasons in Cherokee culture. It honors the cardinal directions between yellow east and red west. Orange combines the passion of red with the joy and wisdom of yellow.
The orange-red clay of Georgia is sacred to the Cherokee. This clay provides the pigment for traditional pottery, painting, and decoration. Persimmons, high in orange carotene, are an important wild fruit gathered in autumn. Orange pumpkins signify the completion of the harvest.
Ceremonies give thanks for autumn’s bounty with offerings of orange foods like squash, corn, and nuts. Orange tobacco ties represent the gift of nourishment from the earth. Orange conveys spiritual gifts secured through sacrifice and hard work.
Brown
Brown symbolizes earth, grounding, the sacredness of the land, the animal world, comfort, stability, and Cherokee traditions. Brown represents the east in some Cherokee traditions, associating it with the start of the new day. Different hues of brown clay are used to create pottery, paint buildings, and dye fabric.
Deer, elk, bear, beaver, and other brown animals teach important cultural lessons about family, strength, and selflessness. Their brown hides provide clothing, tools, and housing. Rich brown corn, nuts, and tobacco connect the Cherokee to the cycles of nature.
Brown keeps Cherokee art grounded in foundations of the past. Traditional Cherokee music uses drum beats, sticks, and rattles carved from brown wood. Brown conveys the knowledge shared generation after generation.
Pink
Pink represents femininity, romance, caring, tenderness, flirtation, charm, and the arrival of spring in Cherokee culture. It combines white purity with red passion. Pink flowers like wild roses and rhododendrons blossom as the earth renews itself. Mayapple, with pink blossoms and yellow fruit, represents medicine and healing.
Young Cherokee women traditionally wore light pink buckskin dresses as a sign of eligibility for courting and marriage. Pink feathers were given as tokens of admiration. Face paint mixing red, white, and pink clay conveyed loving intentions. Pink continues to decorate women’s clothing and accessories.
Baskets, beadwork, and quilts contain pink to represent grace, affection, and negotiating the path between childhood and womanhood. Pink conveys gentle emotions like affection, intimacy, vulnerability, and hope.
Turquoise
Turquoise has been prized by the Cherokee for thousands of years. It represents sky, good fortune, protection, friendship, wisdom, and balance. The blue-green hues of turquoise channel vitality from the life-giving rain.
Cherokee chiefs wore turquoise ornamentation as a sign of leadership. Warriors carried turquoise talismans to guard against harm. Horses were adorned with turquoise beads to protect them during raids and hunting. Brides wore turquoise jewelry as a blessing for fertility.
Turquoise continues to be used by Cherokee artists. It adorns wampum shell jewelry, beaded necklaces, hair ties, earrings, and clothing. The resilient, ancient nature of turquoise makes it a stone of enduring cultural significance.
Conclusion
From the earthy hues of brown and green to the cool blues and purples of water and sky, color permeates Cherokee life and imagery. Red, white, and yellow hold importance across North American tribes, but the Cherokee have their own specific color symbolism representing concepts like fertility, death, spirituality, and feminine energy. Nature provides the Cherokee with dyes and pigments used in ceremonies, clothing, art, and crafts. Color connects the Cherokee to ancestors, spirits, animals, and the land they inhabit. Even as culture changes, traditional colors hold enduring meaning and provide continuity between past, present, and future generations of Cherokee people. By honoring these colors, Cherokee artists, craftsmen, and community members keep their shared identity alive.
