The Symbolism of Black
Black is the darkest color, complete absorption of visible
light. It is an achromatic color, a color without hue, like white and gray.
Black is associated with fertility, magic and elegance.
Black ink is the most common color used for printing books,
newspapers and documents, as it provides the highest contrast with white paper
and thus the easiest color to read.
Black was one of the first colors used in art. The Lascaux
Cave in France contains drawings of bulls and other animals drawn by
paleolithic artists between 18,000 and 17,000 years ago.
For the ancient Egyptians, black had a special meaning, being
the color of fertility and the rich black soil flooded by the Nile. It was the
color of Anubis, the god of the underworld, who took the form of a black
jackal, and offered protection against evil to the dead.
Ausar, who is credited with spreading sacred knowledge, is
call the perfect black.
The word Khem, meant black or blackness. AS the root word of
Chemistry, we understand this to mean the black arts or black study.
It has been argued that the Khemites were thus calling
themselves the Black People.
Black symbolized both power and secrecy in the medieval
world. The emblem of the Holy Roman Empire of Germany was a black eagle. The
black knight in the poetry of the Middle Ages was an enigmatic figure, hiding
his identity, usually wrapped in secrecy.
A black pigment can, however, result from a combination of
several pigments that collectively absorb all colors. Black is the absorption
of all colors of light, or an exhaustive combination of multiple colors of
pigment.
In elementary science, far ultraviolet light is called
"black light" because, while itself unseen, it causes many minerals
and other substances to fluoresce.
As of September 2019, the darkest material is made from
vertically aligned carbon nanotubes. The material was grown by MIT engineers
and was reported to have a 99.995% absorption rate of any incoming light. This
surpasses any former darkest materials including Vantablack, which has an peak
absorption rate of 99.965% in the visible spectrum
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity prevents
anything, including light, from escaping. The theory of general relativity
predicts that when a star runs of out gas and begins to collapse a sufficiently compact mass will deform
spacetime to form a black hole. It is called "black" because it
absorbs all the light that hits the horizon, reflecting nothing, just like a
perfect black body in thermodynamics.
After a black hole has formed it can continue to grow by
absorbing mass from its surroundings. By absorbing other stars and merging with
other black holes, supermassive black holes of millions of solar masses may
form. There is general consensus that supermassive black holes exist in the
centers of most galaxies.
In China, the color black is associated with water, one of
the five fundamental elements believed to compose all things.
In Japan black can also symbolize experience, as opposed to
white, which symbolizes naiveté. The black belt in martial arts symbolizes
experience.
In Christian theology, black was the color of the universe
before God created light. In many religious cultures, from Mesoamerica to
Oceania to India and Japan, the world was created out of a primordial darkness.
In Hinduism, the goddess Kali, goddess of time and change,
is portrayed with black or dark blue skin. wearing a necklace adorned with
severed heads and hands. Her name means "The black one". She destroys
anger and passion according to Hindu mythology and her devotees are supposed to
abstain from meat or intoxication.
In Paganism, black represents dignity, force, stability, and
protection. The color is often used to banish and release negative energies.
Black is frequently used as a color of power, law and
authority. In many countries judges and magistrates wear black robes
Black formal attire is still worn at many solemn occasions
or ceremonies, from graduations to formal balls. Graduation gowns are copied
from the gowns worn by university professors in the Middle Ages, which in turn
were copied from the robes worn by judges and priests, who often taught at the
early universities. The mortarboard hat worn by graduates is adapted from a
square cap called a biretta worn by Medieval professors and clerics.
Black Panther symbolism is inevitably linked to a protector,
a guardian, or a savior.
The names cougar, puma, panther, Black Panther, leopard, and
mountain lion are often used interchangeably as they all belong to the class of
animals grouped under the term ‘Panthera.’
The Black Panther is a melanistic leopard found in the
moist, dense forests.
The Egyptian Goddess Mafdel took on the appearance of a
panther and is invoked even today as the destroyer of snakes and scorpions.
Thus, much of the Black Panther symbolism is linked to protection and
guardianship.
Egyptian priests supposedly wore leopard and panther skins
when performing funerary rites.
The symbolism of the black panther was used by the American
Political Party of the 1960
In India, the caste system used the Black Panther Movement
in America to form the Dalit Panthers –
The Dahomey God Agassu is a product of union between a
panther and a Tado princess. Agassu became the founder of the royal line of
Abomey.
Panther and leopard symbolism is also found in conjunction
with the rulers of Cameroon Grasslands and Kongo. In fact, one of the many
symbols of the power of the ruling Obas of Benin is a panther.
In the Iroquois mythology of North American Indians, the God
of the West Wind is Dajoji – a panther or jaguar. When he snarls, even the sun
hides his face.
Onyx, raven , ebony, melanoid, infinite, obsidian, sable,
The African Diaspora identifies itself with the term black.
Black is beautiful.
Black is infinite.
It is black culture, black awareness and black love.
Black is a color, a cosmological event and ideology, a
people and a state of begin.
It is both the combination of all others and the absence of
them.
