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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Haint Blue

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 It's hard not to notice all the light blue roofs on the porches of Charleston.  Of course I am now obsessed with the look and begging hubby to put up bead board and paint our porch ceiling blue...

"There are other fragments of the past that lie quietly in the hollows of Charleston’s sweet-smelling streets. Roofs of piazzas are painted a pale blue color, known locally as “haint blue.” Haint is the Gullah word for haunt. In many superstitious beliefs, ghosts or other spirits are not allowed to cross water. The color blue used outside of doors and windows, being a reflection of water, would confuse or otherwise deter spirits from entering the home. Was it always done for this reason? In many parts of Florida and the Caribbean, this color was adapted to keep bees from nesting, as it was to give the illusion of sky. Perhaps they are both correct; Charleston, when summed up as a whole, is English Caribbean, albeit accented with African and French."




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