Haint Blue

As you sit on a comfortable porch in the Lowcountry sipping your sweet tea, look up. What color is the ceiling? If the porch ceiling is a light shade of blue, you’re looking at a color known in the South as haint blue. Steeped in superstition and tradition, haint blue is used on porch ceilings (door and window frames, too) throughout the South to protect homes from natural and supernatural pests.

Supernatural first (it’s always more interesting). The Gullah Geechee culture, born from the descendants of enslaved Central and West Africans, has bestowed the Lowcountry with an abundance of tasty dishes, inspiring music and rich folklore. Gullah Geechee folklore brought us the legend of haints – restless (often evil) spirits that wreak havoc on the living and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Unable to cross water, it was believed that, by painting the porch ceiling blue, the haints would be tricked into thinking it was water, avoid the hazard and find somewhere else more haint-friendly to haunt. The Gullah Geechee have been painting porch ceilings blue for over 300 years!

Now to the Natural. It was thought that haint blue paint would discourage winged creepies and earthbound crawlies (wasps spiders and an assortment of resident bugs) from setting up house on the porch. While that may be wishful thinking now, originally blue paint was made from indigo dye, milk, lye (a natural bug repellant) and other pigments. While the blue paint may have kept the insect population in check, it was the lye, not the blue color that actually did the work.

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Once the haint blue tradition was established, it flourished throughout the Lowcountry and beyond. Today the haint blue ceiling does not repel insects and may or may not keep evil spirits away. It does, however, provide a soothing atmosphere while you sip your sweet tea and chat with your neighbors.

Interested in the haint blue tradition? Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hilton Head Bluffton Realty is here to help you find the perfect house to make your new Lowcountry home – we’ll even provide a can of haint blue paint for your new porch.