Over the past few years I have been able to visit and admire some older homes in this area. By older, I am talking about 100+ years old. One of the common things that I have noticed is that many of the porch ceilings have been painted blue. The blue is usually a light blue, almost sky blue, but with more green in it.
The other day I visited the site of an old house that is for sale. I walked around the unoccupied property for a while checking some of the out buildings before I wandered onto the porch. Its ceiling was painted blue, as expected.
The blue color used in these ceilings is called Haint Blue. The word Haint originated from the word haunt. It was a tradition to use Haint blue to keep the evil spirits out of a home. Some home owners even used the paint on window and door frames to protect all openings to the home.
During an outbreak of yellow fever near Savannah, Ga in 1820 home owners started using Haint blue on their porches to keep the mosquitoes out and protect themselves from the disease. Using the paint helped because the mosquitoes were repelled by lime used in the formula.
As I researched the history on Haint blue a bit more I learned that the tradition was likely started in Africa. It came to America as slaves were brought here and they used on it on their living quarters to keep the evil spirits out. This superstition held strong across the Southern states and I read Haint blue can also be found on homes around the world.
2 comments:
Very cool story! I've also been fascinated by the Haint Blue porches, but I haven't had a chance to photograph any. I know there is one in the community of Townville in Anderson County, and I may try to stop by there.
Also fascinating are the "Bottle Trees" that one can sometimes find in the lower part of the state. Bottles (usually blue) were stuck on tree branches, and spirits were supposed to get captured in the bottles.
My aunt told me to paint my porch ceiling that blue because it would fool the wasps. They would think it was still the sky and not build a nest on my ceiling. They never did!
MaryB
marynate.blogspot.com
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