Porch ceilings in the American South are traditionally a pale blue green and they have been for centuries (which is amazing since our nation has barely even been around that long). The evocative name of this traditional color is “haint blue” and the roots stretch back to before the revolution when pigments choices were limited. In the Gullah culture of low country South Carolina (a culture created out of West African tradition, colonial greed, New World wetlands, tropical disease, and rice), blue was a special color which was anathema to spirits or “haints.” According to tradition, ghosts either thought it was the sky (problematic) or running water (impassable) and left it alone. There was plenty of indigo pigment to tint the whitewash, and so doors, casements, window frames, and ceilings all became haint blue. And even robust materialists inured by reason against the perils of the supernatural can still agree it is a lovely & calming hue.
But the use of haint blue didn’t stop along the Florida and South Carolina coast. The tradition was admired and emulated throughout the south, and it has even continued to spread beyond North of the Mason Dixon Line and west of the Mississippi in the modern era. I wish I had the time to select a whole “Southern Living” pictorial spread of exquisite southern porches (for, although we are better off without the ways of the old South, those porches are delightful and should be adopted everywhere), but I think these pictures convey the idea.
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April 9, 2019 at 2:10 AM
Meg Miller
How very odd; I was just reading a style piece that suggested Haint Blue, which I hadn’t heard of before.
April 9, 2019 at 11:56 PM
Wayne
Is it part of the zeitgeist? [zeitgeist gets scared because of the pale blue and flies away moaning] Noooo! Come back.
April 9, 2019 at 3:04 PM
Anonymous
Probably has nothing to do with Haint blue but there was a show on TV where the host stated that painting your porch ceiling a blue color (it looks similar to haint blue) keeps birds from building nests there. Perhaps some of your readers might know about this. I was laughing about this with some of my friends and they said that it works.
April 9, 2019 at 11:55 PM
Wayne
I read that haint blue was reputed to keep wasps away. Apparently the original version did (because it had lye in it), but modern pale blue paints don’t do anything in this respect unless formulated to do so.
April 10, 2019 at 12:09 AM
MiamiMagus
Reblogged this on Adventures of A Mage In Miami and commented:
An amazing North American tradition that goes back to the Gulah People. I personally believe in the magical powers of certain colors and how they can be used as either Talismans or Amulets.
Cheers,
– M
April 10, 2019 at 8:41 PM
Wayne
Thanks MiamiMagus (and thanks for the reblog). Do you make your amulets or do acquire them from other magicians? I enjoyed looking at your blog and hope to see some of the talismans there, if possible.
April 14, 2019 at 12:44 PM
MiamiMagus
I wrote a reply so large and long on here that I am actually going to just write a blog post on it! Check the.l next post I make. But the short answer is, I either use whatever I have in my area or I buy certain things like jewlry and I bless it for a week and a half.
April 14, 2019 at 6:48 PM
MiamiMagus
Here, I just wrote this post for you. A little long winded, but it shows some of what I do.
https://miamimagus.wordpress.com/2019/04/14/my-charms-how-i-make-them-and-my-decision-process-for-them/