There are many older homes in the United States that have ceilings (especially of porches and decks) or shutters painted blue. The color is referred to as "haint" blue. The etymology of the word is unclear - it's not listed in the OED or in my Random House. Various websites say its of European derivation, but I suspect it's simply a corruption of the more familiar word "haunt," referring to ghosts.
"...the first painted strokes of Haint Blue adorned not the homes of the rich, but the simple shacks of African slaves. Known as the Gullah or Geechee people, the original Haint Blue creators were descendants of African slaves who worked on rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia... They kept alive the traditions, stories, and beliefs of their ancestors, including a fear of haints."
Folklore says that some ghosts cannot cross water, so the color blue was apparently employed in order to confer upon a home some protection from evil spirits.
The actual shade of "Haint Blue" varies, as the formulas were mixed by hand with local pigments. Haint Blue can range from a pastel violet-blue, such as a periwinkle, to a rich shade of warm turquoise, and everything in between.Photo credits top, middle, and bottom.
If one if from the south, one knows that "haint" means, as you presumed, haunts or ghosts.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that the blue porch ceilings was merely trying to approximate the sky.
Nice post.
I've also heard that the blue tries to approximate the color of the sky, the idea being that birds won't try to build their nests in eaves under a sky (haint) blue ceiling.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know about the ghost part, though! Cool.
I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes...
ReplyDeleteThe blue is acually meant to mimic the sky so that wasps won't build their nests there. It actually works VERY well!
I have always heard that a blue ceiling on a porch repels bugs (can provide no corroboration for this).
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