CHAPTER III
THE OLD LANGUAGE OF YELLOW
Yellow is one of the most interesting colours. Being the colour of the sun, all the attributes of the sun were given to it.
Like red it was considered a masculine colour, while green, blue, and violet were thought of as feminine. Like red, too, it is used by healers as a tonic. As it is of such healing value to the brain, we are not surprised to find that amber has been used as an antidote to insanity. Yellow stones are said to bring happiness to their owners, for yellow was said to be the colour of unity—unity in affection, unity with the spiritual powers of the universe, unity with the Sun of Righteousness who comes with healing in his wings.
This old meaning of the colour yellow was well known and understood in the old Roman Catholic Church. Therefore Dante, who wrote much of his great Divine Comedy consciously or unconsciously to interpret these old ideas and to enshrine them in poetry for evermore, says when he has reached the highest part of heaven and is once more with Beatrice:—
The Pope (on the fourth Sunday in Lent) presents a golden rose of jewels to any person greatly beloved by the Church.
One can notice in the world at present a deep and increasing love for all yellow colours,[7] for it is a colour that gives the appearance of sunlight to the most cheerless rooms. May we not also hope that it is a sign that the world is now striving after unity, and the desire to understand the other person’s point of view?
The yellow robe donned by the Buddhist is a symbol that he is now on the path that is to lead to spirituality. The Light of Asia tells us that Buddha taught his supreme truths “to his own, them of the yellow robe.” He taught them to practise “yoga.” What is “yoga”? To the Western mind it usually means a kind of magic—even charlatanism, but the real meaning of the word is “union.” The belief of these yellow-robed men is that they have within them a spark of the Godhead, and that, by suppressing the bodily desires and by concentrating their whole mental and psychic energies towards trying to understand this higher part of their nature, they will become united with the Supreme Spirit and will understand how to do many things and see many things that the ordinary man cannot do or see.
[7] See Appendix IV.
Vishnu is clad in yellow for the same reason. In the vision of Ezekiel, God is seen in the colour amber; at least, the amber colour is the outward sign of the presence of God.
In the ceremony of making a child become a Brahmin a piece of saffron cloth is bound to his arm with a yellow cord. The Mexicans gave the name Kan to the god who supported the sky. The same word meant yellow.
Yellow is the royal colour of China, and the privilege of wearing yellow is most jealously guarded, for does it not show that its possessor is a Son of the Sun? Similarly the saffron robes of the ancient Irish nobility were a sign of their rank.
Yellow is the marriage colour in India, and the bride stains her hands yellow as a sign of the happiness and unity she expects in her married life. The Roman bride wore a crocus-coloured veil and yellow shoes. Among the Jews marriage may be performed under the Talis, an orange silk robe stretched on four posts. The bride and her maids walk round it seven times, which is said to be in memory of the siege of Jericho.
It might also be noted, in Calderon’s picture of Ruth and Naomi, that Ruth, who wishes ever to be with Naomi, wears a yellow robe—perhaps by chance, perhaps by design, or perhaps by intuition.
Among the Mayas and Egyptians the great serpent of the universe (who symbolises Eternity and Wisdom) was said to be blue in colour but to have yellow scales. In China the golden cock proclaims the dawn. The golden hawk, the golden eagle, the golden ass,[8] and the golden calf were all symbols of deity. Athena, who represented union with the mind of Zeus, had a robe called the “peplus,” a crocus-coloured garment with figures woven into it of the gods conquering the giants. It was suspended to the mast of a ship when it was to be carried in procession, being too holy to be carried by hands.
The mundane egg which is to be met with in nearly all ancient religions, whether of India, Egypt, Phœnicia, Japan, or the South Sea Islands, was said to have been a golden one—that is, it represents the sun or deity. Probably our children’s tale of the goose that lays the golden eggs is a survival of one of these ancient beliefs.
We must remember, too, that the colour of gold not only partook of the meaning of the colour yellow, but also of the symbolism of the metal gold, which is the metal of the sun. Thus the colour began to mean all that was pure, all that had been refined, and hence glory and wisdom. Thus the halo of saints and of God is often made of gold leaf. Similarly the gates and doors of heaven are nearly always represented as being of gold.
[8] Read the Golden Ass of Apuleius, where the hero only regains his real shape by eating roses, which are symbols of prayer.
We may remember, too, that among the emblems attached to St John are the eagle and the River Pison. This River Pison is mentioned in Genesis as flowing through Havilah, where there is much gold. It therefore became the river of inspiration and the wisdom of God; and since St John received the greatest vision, it was considered his most appropriate emblem.
The ladder which Jacob saw in his dream at Bethel or the House of God is described by Dante as being of gold:—
For it is by the ladder of wisdom that we attain wisdom and receive inspiration.
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood made it their particular joy to replace this beautiful symbolism into art. Thus Dante Gabriel Rossetti speaks very beautifully in “The Blessed Damozel” of a golden thread of life that is woven into the robes of the spirits who arrive in the next world after having lived during earth life in unity with God:—
This golden thread is spoken of by the mystic Blake:—
The Greeks also had a legend of a golden thread by which Jupiter drew up souls to heaven. Here we might mention the Golden Bough given to Æneas in order that he may visit the dead and yet retain his life (Æneid, bk. vi. 29).
In the Kalevala, the great Finnish epic, Ilmater is invoked:—
And as Ilmater stands for wisdom, we are not surprised that Ecclesiasticus should say, “Get wisdom, and get much gold by her.” So also Keats writes:—
In Babbit’s book on colour there is an illustration of the aura seen round the head of a man. Above the top part of the head is seen the colour yellow. Now, the phrenologist locates this as the seat of spirituality; thus we see that once more two studies agree in their conclusions. Yellow was thus to the ancients the greatest of all the colours, and had the most exalted meaning.
It is perhaps to be expected, then, that in its degraded meaning it is the saddest of all colours, for we recognise the deceitful Judas very often in ancient pictures from the fact that he is given dingy yellow robes. The Jews in Venice formerly had to wear yellow hats, to show the scorn in which the Venetians held them. Yellow is the colour of decaying vegetable life, of the poorness of life. Thus it means separation instead of unity.