Ancient Bantu Connection: Kamitic/Kemetic

Color Symbolism
 
 
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Post originally appeared on the Land of Kam website:

The debate over the ethnicity of the Kamitic/Kemetic people should be laid to rest by now, but
the reason it isn’t is because Western academia (despite the overwhelming evidence against their
ridiculous claim) is still in denial that black and brown people made significant contributions to
the world. The other reason why this argument has not been laid to rest is because although
knowing that the Kamitic/Kemetic people were black and brown people has done wonders for
the majority of us culturally. Many of us are still at a lost as to how to use this information to
improve our lives because we have not learned how to use our history from an African
perspective.

When I moved beyond the Western approach of history of only being concerned with who, what,
when and why, one of the interesting facts that I discovered was that Kamit/Kemet consisted of a
number of African ethnic groups.  Such as the Nok people an ancient culture dating between 900
B.C. and 200 A.D, the ancient ancestors of the Yoruba people.  Interestingly, the name Nok it
etymologically related to the Kamitic/Kemetic word Nuk, which means, “I AM”.

What was of particular interest to me was when I discovered that the Bantu people were one of
the ethnic groups that once upon dwelled in Kamit/Kemet. Again, interestingly the word Bantu is
similar to the Kamitic/Kemetic words Ba (the Divine Intelligence/Spirit corresponding to
Osar/Ausar/Osiris) and Ntu (plural for men/women – meaning people). It was based upon this
observation, led by my ancestors that I learned that in Kamit/Kemetic, color (iwen) symbolizes a
lot of things. The Kamitic/Kemetic artisan had at several types of colors that were created from
minerals that they found in the earth. Unknown to most is that minerals used to make these
colors also reflect what these colors mean and their significance to the Kamitic/Kemetic culture.
The same was and is still practiced in the African Diaspora.  For instance, we have:
 The color green (wadj/udaj) was made from mixing copper oxides of
copper and iron with silica and calcium or from the natural copper ore
malachite. While the color white (hedj and shesep) was produced  from
chalk and gypsum, in other parts of Africa this color is created from clay. 
Most of the sacred bowls and other objects in regards to embalming were
made of white alabaster. Clothing including the gowns and footwear were
white.

In Chapter 77 of the Pert em Hru (the so-called Book of the Dead), it is said
that the deceased will become a falcon “whose wings are of green stone”
Most Western scholars would assume that this stanza is impractical because
they have no understanding of African spiritual culture. This is why they
confuse Osar and claim that he is a fertility deity. If they only would
humble themselves any true descendant of Kamit/Kemet would tell them
by looking at Osar that,

the color white is the color of purity, cleanliness and stability because it corresponds to bones,
skulls, and the land of the dead, the Underworld, the Land of Osar or the Honorable Ancestors.
The color green is associated with fertility and joy, which explains the reason why all throughout
the folk Afro-Diaspora the color green is still associated with fertility and money. This means
that Osar or the Aakhu (Ancestors) are responsible for fertility, hence the color of Osar’s face.
To this day, many African descendants still honor their ancestors so that they can have
prosperous crops. The ancestors are also honored so that one can conceive children, which is a
tricky thing when you are talking about appealing to the dead for life. The Aakhu simply put
cannot be destroyed because they are hedj (pure white) hence the backbone of Osar-the djett
(stable).  This cultural belief still exists throughout the African Diaspora, that children are
ancestors being reborn or returning to the Land of the Living, but it is the ancestors that are our
cultural backbones.

Moving on, the Egyptologists and re-constructionists will tell you that the color red (desher),
which was created, from red ocher and oxidized iron.  This color, which was the people, would
sometimes paint their body, corresponded to the envious Set and the fiendish serpent Apep. The
color was also associated with the red crown of Kamit/Kemet called the deshret. While various
objects were made of red stones to evoke the Eye of Ra. Some will tell you that the color red
means “life and victory” but this would seem to contradict the fact that Set and appep were also
associated with it. When we turn to African color symbolism we find that the true meaning of the
color red is that of mediation. The color red corresponds to the land of the living, the material
realm (or materialistic reality) that is governed by Set and the appep. This is why the color red
also meant life because every physical living being has metaphorically speaking blood in them
that gives them physical life. There is a double meaning to this as well; this means that everyone
also has the potential to become prone to commit evil – hence the origin of the original sin
concept. When we compare this to the Legend of Osar it makes sense why Hru must fight to
reclaim his throne from Set. He is fighting to establish a balance between the spiritual and
physical reality or the physical reality will totally consume him as it has done his uncle Set.
Again, when we look in the Afro-Disapora amongst traditional practitioners we find that the
color red clearly symbolizes this for instance. Ellegua the Yoruba psycho pomp aspect of Npu
(Sebek/Anubis) color is red. The heroic Shango in several legends whose colors are red has to
learn from Obatala the owner of whiteness in order to achieve his goal with a cool/wise head,
and so on.

The color yellow/bright gold (khenet/kenit) was made from natural ochres
and gold color from gold and silver alloys. This most famous color was
used extensively in Kamitic art.  Many are familiar with it because of its
use to adorn the faces of the mummies and the numerous statues, jewelry
and other finds. Many will claim that it corresponds to the sun but this is
only part of its meaning.  From a metaphorical perspective, the Kamitic
people being keen to puns, the color yellow and gold means to become a
shiny one, a glimmering or flashy one like a star. Stars have always been
seen as enlightened spirits or angels hence the dog star Sirius. Note that one
of the words for stars in the Kamitic/Kemetic language is Sba. Stars like
enlightened spirits are guides. Some of these guides had the abilities to take
the form of nature and were associated with shiny metals and precious
stones like quartz.  This is why early African Americans would take quartz
and make them into mojos (or hand charms) so that the spirit could guide
them to their objective. This also explains the reason why Npu was in
charge of the Opening of the Mouth Ceremony for the deceased, because he
helped the newly deceased to be guides or spirit guides. Esoterically
speaking, the color also refers to a new life or divine energy, hence the
spark of life.

The colors blue and black are similar colors to each other.
The color blue (irtiu, sbedj), which was made by combining oxides with calcium created a rich
and unstable blue color. Many will tell you that it corresponded to crops, fertility and rebirth,
but this is incorrect. Many arrived at this conclusion because the phoenix, which was patterned
after the heron, had bright blue feathers.  Baboons were also colored blue even though they are
not blue at all.  For this reason Egyptologists and reconstructionists assumed that Amun whose
face was blue colored was associated with fertility and rebirth as well.

The color blue is associated with mysteries as well, but these mysteries are the mysteries
understood and known by humankind.  If we were to compare this color to water it would be
considered shallow waters.  This is why the herons and baboons were associated with it. The
heron is able to stand, walk across these shallow waters or lightly step upon the floral resting on
the waters. Certain monkeys and primates are able to play around these shallow waters as well. 
The reason the phoenix and baboon were colored with the unstable color blue, which are
associated with Djahuti (Tehuti/Thoth) is because they correspond to wisdom, hence
experience.  Wisdom has the ability to change anyone’s life but how do most people get wisdom?
Hard knocks, trial and error, etc. is how most people get wisdom, which brings one closer to
God. Amun by the way is not God, no God is Amun “The Hidden One”, which is why His/Her
face is blue because it is a Hidden aspect of God that controls the mystery of rebirth and
renewal, not fertility or said another way, the mysteries of the Wisdom.

The color black (kem, kam) was created from carbon compounds such as soot, ground charcoal
or burnt animal bones.  Westerners and reconstructionists have desperately tried to associate this
color with a negative connotation, so they claim that this is the color of death and the night. For
this reason, Npu (Anpu/Sebek/Anubis) is often depicted as being evil in most Egyptian movies
like the silly films The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. The word necromancy, which derives
from the word negromancy and niger-mancy all refer to the color “black”, which is often
assumed to be a form of “black magic”, hence evil. While these same so-called purist, forget that
the name Kamit/Kemet derives from the word kem meaning the Black Lands. Again, when we
return to African color symbolism and how people in the African Diaspora have used this color
we see that the color black is the color of mystery and rebirth. The color black refers to the
deeper mysteries or deep waters.  These deep waters refer to the mysteries of the woman’s
womb; no one knows (without dissecting and cutting people up – a true un-holistic approach to
medicine) how a child is born, because it is a mystery. No one knows how many stars exist in the
night sky because it is a mystery. No one knows how many ancestors one has, because it is a
mystery. No one knows what happens after life because it is a mystery. Everything that exists in
the dark is a mystery requiring that one use their inner eye. The loas of Vodun are called
mysteries, just like all spirits in African traditions are referred to as mysteries. This is why the
jackal, which technically speaking are brown colored, as Npu is depicted in the color black
because he is a mystery and has the ability to lead us from and to this mysterious realm – the
Spirit world.

Westerners in their lack of understanding of this mysterious realm and fear of death called this
realm Necropolis and those that followed the old Kamitic/Kemetic Way of Life in the past,
necromancers. But, the true understanding of the word necromancy or negromancy is to
communicate with the dead. It was an old practiced in which one would scry into black-colored
water, the color water signifying of course the deeper mysteries in the hidden world.  A similar
practice is used today but instead of dark water, mirrors and other reflective devices are used. 
This is another clue referring back to ancestor veneration, which is a widely practiced tradition
throughout the African Diaspora. Clearly as you can see Westerners have no clue what they are
doing because they are not biologically and/or culturally linked to this tradition.  When we
compare this to the Kongo yowa cross or dikenga color symbolism we see that the
Kamitic/Kemetic people are culturally the descendants of the many in the African Diaspora.  For
more information click on the maa aankh diagram below.