Red Ajah Traditions - Discussion

[Jagen Sedai]

I set myself to a task of coming up with Ajah traditions for us--from the serious and practical to the silly to the superstitious--but then I thought, it'd be much better to have members contribute ideas here for such customs. And perhaps, if you want, even stories behind some of those customs (true or not).

 

On that, I do want to talk briefly about clothing.

 

I don't want to go against anything in the books, but we don't get a whole lot about the Red Ajah (or really anything at all that I can recall). I did have suspicions that perhaps members of the Red couldn't wear blue (as Blue sisters strictly do not wear any shades of red) or green, but this isn't the case--at least not with darker shades:

 

Teslyn -
"Her dark, almost black, dress covered her to the wrists and chin..."
"...her red dress, brocaded in a blue that was nearly black..." (PoD) (I've actually wondered if this was a typo or a continuity error, but who knows.)

 

Duhara -
"...hands clutching skirts so red they seemed nearly black" (PoD)

 

Elaida
"Behind the throne and to the other side a woman in deep green silk sat on a low stool, knitting something out of dark, almost black, wool."  (EotW)

 

Actually, I'm extremely surprised at the amount of times Aes Sedai are seen wearing colors that are "nearly black"--as I would think that would be associated with the Shadow, and therefore it'd be frowned upon. Of the three sisters we do see wear "nearly black" (the three above), only one was Black Ajah in truth. (I'm also surprised the BA doesn't have a rule against wearing such a dark color, too).

 

So, perhaps it is safe to assume Red Sisters are strongly discouraged from wearing bright blues or greens. Other than the Blue Ajah not wearing any red shades, however, I don't see any evidence for or against other Ajahs wearing any colors.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Jagen Sedai

[Arie]

Red has a lot of Pride. It is most common for them to wear red clothing above most others.

Traditionally I believe Red's keep longer tassel shawls, the more formal the longer the tassel. They will wear shawls that the tassel drags. 

 

Of course this is book-ish. Our individual characters are likely different. Carraidhin wears a black suit with usually a red formal-like overdress. She rarely wears her shawl. Maegan, on the other hand, favors "pantsuit" dresses in the blouse and victorian style usually in browns and whites with a light red shawl, or a shawl with red tassel depending on the weather.

 

Red's are usually -always- wearing something Red. 

 

As for traditions... I might have to go through my notes. I can't recall what once was.

[Jagen Sedai]

Yes, they definitely do wear red above all others, at least when RJ *did* bother to mention colors. I have PDFs of all the books, because they're very easy to search for keywords that way, and this is what I searched:

 

red dress (tGH-CoT)
slashed (tGH-CoT)
crimson (tGH-CoT)
scarlet (tGH-CoT)

 

They didn't turn up a whole lot; besides what I shared above, this is all of what I found:

 

Quote

"Red slashed her dress of cream-colored silk, too, and red slippers peeked under the edge of her skirts as she moved into the room." (tDR) (Elaida)
"...her red-slashed skirts. She had never given up her way of dressing as a Red." (CoT) (Elaida)
"An unyielding stern-faced woman, handsome rather than beautiful, and dark of hair and eye, Elaida wore a blood-red dress, with the striped stole of the Amyrlin Seat about her shoulders" (LoC)
"Her dark, almost black, dress covered her to the wrists and chin..." (Teslyn)
"...her red dress, brocaded in a blue that was nearly black..." (PoD) (Teslyn)

"Tarna still maintained her rooms here in the Red quarter, but so long as she held her new position, she was no longer part of the Red Ajah despite the crimson embroidery on her dark gray dress."

 

Edit: I just found another example of a Red wearing black/dark gray, but she was NOT Black Ajah:

 

Quote

Silviana Brehon. She was a Red, and her charcoal-colored skirts had discreet red slashes, but her shawl lay draped across the back of the chair behind the writing table.

 

Edited February 12, 2018 by Jagen Sedai

[Jagen Sedai]

Ajah traditions have been added to the main Information thread. Thank you.