Word of the Day – Haint Blue

From the Haint Blue Flickr Pool (which has lots of pictures):

Commonly found on houses in the American South, Haint Blue is a paint color used on porch ceilings and door and window trim.

Tradition holds that it orginated in the Carribean as a way to ward off evil spirits (“haints”). Indigo was used to get the blue color. Also, lime was commonly used in the blue paint which helped keep insects away.

“…folks from the South who believe blue ceilings scare evil spirits.

That can be credited to the Gullah/Geechee culture, a mix of African tribes that made up a large part of the slave population once found in the Carolina Low Country…

These people brought many customs and myths with them to the United States, including the superstition that the color blue warded off evil spirits (“haints,” or haunts). The Gullah people would paint the woodwork around their windows and doorways to ward off the haints… The practice spilled over onto porch ceilings, and the color came to be known as “haint blue.” Source

“Haint Blue” isn’t one specific color. It can vary from a pale pale light blue to a more deep turquoise or teal color. As long as we see it as the color of aporch ceiling or around a door/window, we can consider it Haint Blue.

“Legend has it that the color was brought to the United States with the slaves who believed that it had the ability to ward off evil spirits. In the South, a “Haint” is a spirit (a derivation of “haunt”) and the color supposedly keeps them away. This is why many houses in the South have blue porches or blue trim on the house.

Via Cracked’s 6 Bizarre Ways Architecture Is Designed to Ward Off Ghosts.

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