Comment

Comment by Teresa on November 30, 2011 at 2:45am

I love it , did you make it yourself?

Comment by Caracoli on September 19, 2008 at 10:42am

I love your regalia, you should post it on Caribbean textiles.

Comment by AkuTurey on August 13, 2008 at 5:37pm

In the African Yoruba culture,the three colors are also considered THE basic colors...also called the "three powers"(Ashe,"a-shay")red,hot,fire,energy,black,night,darkness,introverted,concealed,white,day,light,purity,revealed-all other colors come from these,according to thier view.

Comment by adem medina cardona on July 14, 2008 at 9:45pm

simply beautiful

Comment by Arenahi on June 24, 2008 at 6:58pm

Thanks for the compliments.

Red, white and black (and occasionally yellow) are traditional Amerindian colors, and I think that it is cool that it is the colors of the Trinidadian flag. I wonder if they did that on purpose given their traditional heritage.
Red is from the Uruku or achiote
Black is from the Jagua or genipapa
and White is from white clay.
I have come across many instances of the meaning of these colors in the discussion of South American tribes. It seems pretty common and similar across groups.

I didn't make the outfit, my friend Carly who is Mono Indian and her wonderful family helped me make it. They sewed the skirt, top and shawl in one day, with only pictures to guide them. Then Carly and I put the fringe on and I glued the pom poms.

The sash was something I received from the ceremony.

Comment by Maximilian Forte on June 24, 2008 at 6:36pm

P.S.: So what about this great outfit? It really is elegant, classic and striking (I won't get into the colours again). Did you design it? (Because if you did, you can add dress design to language teaching as another of your skills.)

Comment by Maximilian Forte on June 24, 2008 at 6:34pm

Great photograph, I don't normally comment on photos which show the person I am addressing (for fear that even compliments could be taken the wrong way), but this is great. RED, WHITE, BLACK...not only my three personal favourites when they appear together, not only the colours of the Trinidadian flag, but also three regularly recurring colours on Amerindian pottery. By any chance, have you come across discussions of what they might mean, maybe at different times in different indigenous societies in the Caribbean? One of my favourite blogs, Guacara Dreamtime, has three words in red, white, and black, and I am told they are the words for those colours in the Taino language.