What is Haint paint?

Haint blue is a pale shade of blue that is traditionally used to paint porch ceilings and under eaves.( Howard Garrett) The blue pigment was originally made from crushed indigo plants, a common crop for plantations in the American South.

Why do people in the south paint the ceiling of their porch blue?

The practice traces back to the Gullah Geechee, enslaved people living in the low country of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Gullah folklore explains that ghosts, also referred to as “haints,” were not able to cross water. In order to repel evil spirits from plantations, porch ceilings were painted a soft blue.

What color is haint paint?

Haint blue is a collection of pale shades of blue-green that are traditionally used to paint porch ceilings in the southern United States.

What is the meaning of haint blue paint?

The shade and the term “haint blue” have become mythic and ubiquitous. The Gullah Geechee legend says that evil spirits do not like water and painting spaces to look like water will keep them away. The color is said to have been originally based on the indigo grown in the region in the eighteenth century.

What color is haint blue in Sherwin Williams?

Sherwin-Williams Waterscape (SW 6470) is a dynamic, perfectly soft-but-bright blue infused with hints of green. Haint blue in general can be tricky because it will depend on several factors, like the natural light on your porch, the other colors present, and the amount of greenery surrounding your house.

The Story of Haint Blue | What About This?

Who sells haint blue paint?

Some great haint blue paint options listed below are Palladian Blue by Benjamin Moore, Atmospheric by Sherwin Williams, Rainwashed by Sherwin Williams, Pool Blue by Sherwin Williams or Blue Allure by Benjamin Moore.

What color are porch ceilings in the South?

Porch ceilings in the American South (and parts of the Northeast) are almost always painted blue — whether the rest of the home's exterior is white, yellow, pink or any other color of the rainbow.

Why do black people paint their houses blue?

The Gullah people (also known as the Geechee or Gullah Geechee) in Georgia, a subsection of enslaved people who lived on island and costal plantations, were the first to use this color blue as a protection against evil spirits, calling it “haint blue”.

What color keeps evil spirits away?

Since the ancient times, red color is believed to be a lucky color to ward off evil spirits.

What do haints do?

Origination of haint beliefs

In South Carolina, haints are malicious ghosts, often seeking to steal or harm naughty children (maybe used as a story to make unruly children behave?). One online dictionary defines the word "haint" simply as a ghost. The tradition is more complex than that.

What does the word haint mean?

1. a type of ghost or evil spirit from the Carolina coast. According to Appalachian historian Dave Tabler, the word haint can refer to an angry dead spirit, but also to “an undefinable something that scares the bejeevers out of you.”

Why do they paint porch ceilings blue in Charleston?

This light blue-green color is especially popular in southern coastal cities like Charleston, SC or Savannah, GA because of the historically haunted nature of these cities. The blue color was meant to ward off “haints” or evil spirits who might want to harm the house or the family inside.

Why are porch ceilings painted blue in Key West?

As time went by another legend came to be as home owners continued to paint their Key West ceilings blue. The idea was (and for some still is) that blue porch ceilings act as a natural bug repellent because the porch looks like the sky and fools the bugs who obviously won't build their nests in the sky.

Does painting your porch ceiling blue keep bugs away?

Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence that blue ceilings do in fact keep bugs away. However, there are some personal testimonies that state they saw fewer spiders and wasps after painting their porch ceiling blue.

What color blue is used on porch ceilings?

The soft blue often used on porch ceilings retains the ghostly name of haint blue, however, haint blue is not a specific color. The Gullah created a variety of blue shades using chalk and whatever other materials they had on hand.

What color keeps birds away?

Blue ceilings are also said to deter birds from nesting there and insects from buzzing around.

Where did haint come from?

The word “haint” appears to come from the Gullah Geechee people of the low country of South Carolina and refers to spirits trapped between the world of the living and the dead. The Gullah people are the descendants of Central and West Africa who came from different ethnic and social groups.

How was haint blue made?

Mixing the dregs, or leftover remnants, in a pit with lime, milk and other pigments, they formed a shade of robin's egg blue paint that would become known as 'haint blue. ' The lowcountry is a land of blue water and blue sky.

What Colour is protection?

The color black in and of itself isn't bad — it's actually most often associated with protection, uncrossing, and can be used to ward off any negative vibes that may be thrown your way.

What is the color of slavery?

Indigo: The Indelible Color That Ruled The World Catherine McKinley traveled through nine West African countries a decade ago to track the history of indigo, the blue dye that was made very valuable by the African slave trade.

What is the horrible history of haint blue?

This “haint blue,” first derived from the dye produced on Lowcountry indigo plantations, was originally used by enslaved Africans, and later by the Gullah Geechee, to combat “haints” and “boo hags”—evil spirits who escaped their human forms at night to paralyze, injure, ride (the way a person might ride a horse), or ...

What does a blue door mean?

A blue front door may symbolize prosperity and abundance, and the darker you go the more a blue door can project a sense of tranquility, peace and elegance.

What does a blue porch light mean 2020?

If you notice a blue light bulb lighting up someone's porch, this is the meaning: The blue lights convey a message of respect and solidarity for all officers and their families. California.

What should I put on my porch ceiling?

What color is sea salt Sherwin Williams?

Sea Salt is one of Sherwin Williams most popular paint colors, a delicate green gray blue color that is a chameleon paint color that changes dramatically in different lighting conditions.