Red

Nahua tradition

• Red appears in Nahua tradition.

  Sahagún’s books attend to ritual color, including red, in Mexica practice. Color here is a specified offering and direction language, not a European luck-red.

  from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577

  appears in · partially sourced · culturally specific

European folklore

• Red is associated with Luck.

  Some European and later popular customs treat red as protective or lucky. That is not Mexica ritual color and not alchemical fire.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• Red is associated with Fire.

  Red is the ordinary color-name of flame. Repeating the pair from the color’s side keeps the color page from being only luck and Mexica rite.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• Fire is associated with Red.

  Flame is often named by redness in ordinary speech and in ritual color. The color is not a theology.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• Blood is associated with Red.

  Blood is the ordinary reason red is the color of a wound. The material fact is not a festival code.

  associated with · interpretive · documented

Chinese tradition

• Cinnabar is associated with Red.

  Cinnabar is a red ore. Vermilion is a color of that mineral, not a slogan.

  from Ge Hong; James R. Ware (translation) · The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung, 1966 (this translation); Ge Hong 4th century CE

  associated with · sourced · documented