BY MIHIRETU WASSIE
Colors are powerful medium having different interpretation in different parts of the world. Colors in African culture are using symbolically to identify specific situations, moment, place or daily life activities. In most African countries black and white colors used for two opposite concepts. Black color is used to display funeral activities while white color is used to show joy and purity. It is powerful to speak out the state of being, emotions, feelings, personal abilities and thinking in visual form. Colors have great deal with our economic, political, and social values in different arrangements around the society or individual. These attachments of colors with emotions are very important in different parts of the world in various cultural experiences.
In Africa colors have special attachment with daily lives. Religious festivals, performances, football arenas and public celebrities are dominantly seen by hot colors.
The differences in colors of cloth at funeral services convey different messages albeit they are similar situation, but not taken as the same culturally. In most Nigerian spiritual performing’s red color is dominant and powerful color. In Igbo and Yoruba Communities red color is worn by chief priest during public ritual performing’s.
Alistair Boddy-Evans wrote about ‘colors of ancient Egyptian’ in 2011 that black color in ancient Egyptian was a symbol of fertility, new life and resurrection. It was also a color of traditional god Osiris and the color of the underworld.
According to Kwasi Wiredu and Kwame Gyekye’s publication titled ‘African symbols and proverbs as source of knowledge’ in traditional Ghanaian culture Adinkra cloth is popular and worn “to say Good bye”. It is adorned with black color and also used for memorial to dead person to send his souls to the land of the ancestors.
The other African writer Marhaw Regenera wrote in 2020 about brand African colors that: “Every African knows that generally red depicts the blood that was shed during slavery; green refers to the fertile land of the continent and in each country, and black represents the color of our skin, whereas white denotes peace and peacefulness whilst gold/yellow symbolizes the sun, or source of wealth, and blue signifies peace, love and unity” Red, blue, yellow and black colors are very important and found in each African countries flag as a national color.
Green, yellow and red colors were very vital colors during fighting colonialism and external invasions in Ethiopian people for long centuries. The Ethiopian flag colors played great role for Ethiopianism movement in all black people over the world against colonialism. After independence, most African countries used these colors interchangeably as African struggle color and symbol of independence.
These colors were not limited in Africa; it was popular in Caribbean, North America, India and Europe around black people as a struggle of slavery, colonialism and exploitation. Colors in South Africa are very symbolic according to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health published the following meanings in a 2008 newsletter as- “Red refers to the hardships fought in the struggle against apartheid; black & white is the different people of South Africa; yellow reflects the mineral wealth of the country and green the fertile land with blue signifying the African sky” The African diaspora in United States of America created pan African flag (red, black and green respectively) to represent black Africans by colors in 1920. Red symbolized as the ancestors blood shaded for liberation, Black for the existence of black peoples and green for the natural wealth of the African continent.
In most African cultural celebrities, masks have great contribution to give the performance hot vibe. African cultural performances and masks are colorful with decorated patterns and visual effects. Majorities of African masks are decorated by black, white and red colors to symbolize the spirit when ritual is taken place. These colors are not selected randomly by the practitioners; it is highly associated with the supernatural power and worshiping. Different colored masks worn by tribal leaders, local religious leaders and young people are symbolically represented by Africa communities in different parts of the continent.
According to Glenn McNatt in his article published by The Baltimore Sun in 2021 titled“Unmasking the meaning behind color in African art” explains about colors in African and western contexts.The Eurocentric views of primary colors are red, yellow and blue but in African color context; red, black and white are considered as primary color. In Nigeria especially in Benins and Yorubas community, red color is worn during religious ceremonies by chief priest in any public places and ritual performances and sacrifices.
African clothes are rich in color and patterns. The West African cultural cloths and patterns are dominantly seen in the world. But there are different stylistic patterns combined with different colors in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, and Democratic Republic of Congo and so on. For instance, the Kente cloth – which is probably the best known of all textiles from Africa, with bright colors and bold, geometric designs, is woven in and parts of Cote d’Ivoire and Togo.
Generally, Africa is a continent rich with diverse languages and people groups. African arts, cloths, flags in different countries are depicting symbolically in association with indigenous cultural values. African colors conceptually represent in a certain community are attach with emotions from cultural, environmental and political situations. Considering all the above issues, we can’t imagine Africans without colors.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
The Ethiopian Herald June 29/2021
