Sadd colors or sad colors were the colors of choice for the clothing of the members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in seventeenth century America ("sadd"/ "sad" carried the meaning of "seriousness" rather than "sadness"). The Puritans have often been depicted wearing simple black and white, but for them, the color "black" was itself considered too bold for regular use and was reserved for community elders and for highly formal occasions such as when having one's portrait painted. Black was considered so formal in part because black dye was difficult to obtain and black clothing had a tendency to fade to other colors rather quickly. The Puritans, then, designated a set of colors which they called "sadd" colors for their everyday use. These colors were deliberately subdued, and included suc