the purple lichen archil
“Madder is the most widespread natural source of reds, but it is not the only one. Perhaps the most unexpected rivals throughout history have been bugs.
The best known is cochineal, a scale insect that lives on certain species of cacti in Central and South America. Native inhabitants as far back as 1000 B.C. knew how to extract bluish red dye from the dried remains of the female cochineal, collected when she was swollen with eggs. Spanish traders in the 1500s introduced the so-called scarlet grain to Europe. Some cacti were transplanted to places such as the Canary Islands and Java. Cochineal is still widely used as a food coloring.
Another red dye comes from an insect that infests oak trees and other plants in southern Europe and the Middle East. The scarlet obtained from the dried shells of the female shield louse was used by dyers in ancient Rome. Cochineal almost completely eneded the dyers interest in these insects in the 1600s.
A red also can be obtained from the bodies of the gum-lac scale insects from China, south Asia, and parts of Africa. The same bug is also a sourceof the resin used in shellac.
Red purple dyestuffs with unreliable staying power include red ocher from soil rich in iron oxide; henna; the purple lichen archil; and Brazilwood trees.
There are hundreds of natural sources for other colors with varying degrees of fastness and durability. Some of those used in carpet production include:
Yellow: weld, pomegranate, chamomile, onion skin
Blue: indigo
Brown: walnut
Black: acorn cups, oak bark
Primary colors are mixed to create greens, oranges, and other shades.”
—Brian Murphy, from The Root of Wild Madder: Chasing the History, Mystery, and Lore of the Persian Carpet, 2005.
the Grail
“The Holy Grail . . . [is] one of the most enigmatic creations of the Middle Ages; a thing of such supreme power and importance that only the bravest and most chivalrous should attempt the search. For what, though There is no shortage of theories about the Grail, possibly from the Old French word graal, meaning dish or salver, but many other derivations are suggested. Its most commonly described as the vessel used by Christ at the Last Supper and later used to collect his sweat and blood during his final hours. Others describe it as something akin to the Holy Spirit and able to bestow wisdom and revelation. Perhaps, as some suggest, it is not an object at all, but unshakable faith in sanctity and its power. The Grail, in other words, could be all things to all seekers.”
—Brian Murphy, from The Root of Wild Madder: Chasing the History, Mystery, and Lore of the Persian Carpet, 2005.
Pink Floyd
“We were playing, as the Tea Set, out at an RAF base . . . when, lo and behold, we found that, extraordinarily, there was another band called the Tea Set booked to appear. . . . We rapidly had to come up with an alternative. Syd [Barrett] produced, with little further ado, the name the Pink Floyd Sound, using the first names of two venerable blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. . . . It was very much Syds idea. And it stuck.”
—Nick Mason, from Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, 2004. Now we know.
the Four Directions
“Just how far back into the past the history of playing cards goes, no one can say with certainty. But . . . Mr. Stewart Culin, Director of the Brooklyn Museum . . . believes that both chess and cards are derived fom the divinatory use of the arrow, and that they represent the two principal methods of arrow divination. The basis of the divinatory systems from which games have arisen is the classification of all things according to the Four Directions. This method is universal among all primitive peoples in Asia and America. In order to classify objects and events which did not in themselves reveal their proper assignment, resort was had to magic. Our present games are the suvivals of these magical processes.”
Catherine Perry Hargrave, from A History of Playing Cards, first published in 1930, and still published unabridged by Dover.
coins, clubs, swords and cups
“Playing cards existed in China in or before the twelfth century, were introduced into Europe from China in the thirteenth century and were spread quickly from Europe over the civilized world. Certain Chinese cards which have come down to the present time were imitated from Chinese paper notes which bore pictorial symbols of their value. These pictures furnished the suit marks of the Chinese pack, and, copied again in Europe, without knowledge of their true significance, gave rise to the suits of coins, clubs, swords and cups of the eary European game.”
—Stewart Culin, quoted in A History of Playing Cards by Catherine Perry Hargrave, 1930.
Coeurs, Carreaux, Trfles, and Piques
“There are . . . painted cards of the early fifteenth century which first show the suit signs of Coeurs, Carreaux, Trfles, and Piques which are characteristic of the French cards of to-day. The suit signs of the old tarots had been Cups, Swords, Coins, and Batons; the French suit signs are supposed to have been introduced by a famous knight, tienne Vignoles, or Lahire, as he is called. He is said to have invented the game of piquet, which was the game of knights and chivalry, in contrast to the old game . . . chess, the game of war. Lahire is said to have had the help of his friend, tienee Chevalier, who was secretary to the king and a clever draughtsman and who may have been responsible for the new designs. The suit of Coeurs denotes the church; Carreaux, the arrowheads or diamonds, are symbolic of the vassals, from whom the archers and bowmen were drawn; Trfles, or clover (clubs) signifies the husbandmen, and Piques, or points of lances (spades), the knights themselves.”
—Catherine Perry Hargrave, from A History of Playing Cards, first published in 1930, and still published unabridged by Dover.
in gold and diverse colours
“In 1329, in the register of the Chambre des Comptes of Charles VI of France, there is an entry of the royal treasurer of moneys paind one Jacquemin Gringonneur, painter, for three games of cards in gold and diverse colours, ornamented with many devices, for the diversion of our lord, the King. Seventeen of these strange old painted cards survive in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. They are atouts from a pack of tarots, as the early European game of cards was called. . . . In a tarot series, in addition to the customary fifty-two cards, there are four cavaliers or mounted valets besides the twenty-two high cards. These last are supposed to have been taken from an Egyptian book of hieroglyphics containing the principles of an ancient mystic philosophy in a series of emblem and symbolic figures.”
—Catherine Perry Hargrave, from A History of Playing Cards, first published in 1930, and still published unabridged by Dover.
have you ever been in new orleans
“Negroes in purple and fine linen, and slaves in rags and chains. . . .
Pimps, imps, shrimps, and all sorts of dirty fellows;
White men with black wives, et vice-versa too,
A progeny of all colorsan infernal motley crew!”
—from Have you ever been in New Orleans, a disparaging ballad of the late 1820s. Found in The American Nation, by John A. Garraty, 1975.