MOONEY j 



OlbrechtsJ 



THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 



51 



Color Symbolism — Sacred Numbers 



There is but little to be added to what Mooney (SFC, p. 342) 

 says about the Cherokee color symbolism, unless it be this, that the 

 distinction is not always made quite so definitely as would appear 

 from Mooney's tabulation. It is, of course, possible that 40 to 50 

 years ago the people's ideas were stUl less vague and fleeting on this 

 score than they are now, but the formulas' evidence does not indi- 

 cate that even quite a few generations back the color symbolism was 

 much more definite. This will readily appear upon consulting the 

 analytical table, Disease spirits (pp. 44-50). 



A couple of facts are established beyond doubt — red and white 

 can not possibly be associated with the west, nor with anything un- 

 successful; black can only be associated w.dth the west, and blue with 

 the west or the north ; neither of these latter colors can under any cir- 

 cumstances be symbolic of success. Apart from this it is not possible 

 to be dogmatic: Red may be used in connection with the south as 

 well as with the east and the zenith, whereas white is no more the 

 inalienable color of the south than red is the one of the east. 



Whether this phenomenon has any correlation with the defective 

 power of discrimination between colors of the Cherokee I hesitate to 

 say. However that may be, it is a fact that even the Cherokee who 

 have known the joys of a Government school education do not score 

 much better, according to our standards, when it comes to dis- 

 criminating between colors than did the Seminoles of MacCauley.^^ 



To gain some more definite data on this I asked the informant 

 who was the least hopeless in this respect (W.) to pick out from a 

 color chart, showing 95 colors in all possible shades and nuances, 

 those "which the Cherokee know and have a name for." The follow- 

 ing is the result of this experiment: 



^ Cf. Fifth Ann. Kept. Bur. Ethn., p. 525. 



