The philosophy of colour perception in the Khanty's world outlook

In the following article an attempt to single out the semantic interpretation of the basic colours (white, red, black) in the culture of the Khanty was made. The basic sources of the information are published works and the author's field materials. The outlook vertical in the Khanty culture is represented by the birch and its spheres: the crown or the Upper World, as the settlement of supreme gods who are favourable to the living people, is associated with white colour. Then comes the world of the Living or the Middle World - its denotatum is red colour, and the World of the Dead or the Lower World where black colour predominates. Though the lineal division of the inhabited space according to the river flow is more archaic. Having analysed the published sources and basing on the personal field materials the author comes to a conclusion that the three basic colours have firm meanings. Consequently, white is associated with the Upper World, the South, warmth, life, well-being, while black, on the contrary, with the Lower World, the North, cold, illness and death. The World of the Living people occupies an intermediate position with its main colour - red, which means blood, giving hope for transformation and reincarnation

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