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Haint Blue: Color To Ward Off Ghosts & Boo-Hags

MrRING

MrRING

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An interesting article online that I thought worth noting:
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...of-enslaved-africans?utm_source=pocket-newtab
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 even kill innocent victims. The color was said to trick haints into believing that they’ve stumbled into water (which they cannot cross) or sky (which will lead them farther from the victims they seek). Blue glass bottles were also hung in trees to trap the malevolent marauders.
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A bit more about Boo-Hags:
https://northcarolinaghosts.com/coast/boo-hag/
Now they knew this was serious. A boo hag is a kind of witch that can slip out of her skin and fly around at night and cause all kinds of trouble in the world. A boo hag can kill a man just by sucking all the blood from his body out through his nose. They'll get on a man and ride him at night so he can't move and he can't breathe. A boo hag is not something you'd ever want to meet...
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I thought "haint blue" rang a distant bell, and it really did ...

I can attest to the persistence of haint blue (sky blue; robin's egg blue) as a traditional color of paint used solely on the front porch ceilings of old homes in the American south as late as the 1950s. I recall wondering as a little kid why the porch ceiling was painted a color appearing nowhere else on or within the house.

More recently the color has been alleged to dissuade wasps and spiders from setting up camp.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haint_blue
 
I've never heard of 'haint blue' before, it's a gorgeous shade!

Shades of light blue are very common in Hindu/Buddhist areas of south Asia as exterior paint for houses, it is thought to be a holy good luck colour; it echoes the blue used in some Hindu deity statues.

Pic of my relative's home in Nepal:
 

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Yithian said:
The term is used in To Kill A Mockingbird:

View attachment 29195
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Lovely writing. If you are satisfied by only seeing the movie, you are missing lovely prose. And a good many wonderful coming-of-age episodes that there would never be time for in a movie. I'm torn. A mini-series could do justice to the whole novel. But could the casting ever compare to the movie?
 
To show how all is interconnected, I am pause (in NY State it's "the pause")-rewatching DS9 and as usual enjoying Brock Peters as a briefly-reappearing character and then the penny dropped and I remembered him as Tom in Mockingbird.
 
:bump: I just listened to "The Stuff They Don't Want You To Know" podcast and they had a caller (Plaquetos) requesting that they look into "haints". It's the second topic they discuss in this episode:

I have never heard of haints, and it is the correct spelling and pronunciation for the people who were brought up with these beliefs. They even mention the specially named Haint Blue paint that is available to protect from them, as well as things like leaving a broom or bowl of rice at doors to stop haints from entering.

Is anyone familiar with this folklore? The podcasters live in the state of Georgia, US and one of them grew up in an area that he knew of haints. Apparently it does originate from Africa. I enjoy different folklore and would love if someone has more knowledge, stories about this folklore.
 
brownmane said:
:bump: I just listened to "The Stuff They Don't Want You To Know" podcast and they had a caller (Plaquetos) requesting that they look into "haints". It's the second topic they discuss in this episode:

I have never heard of haints, and it is the correct spelling and pronunciation for the people who were brought up with these beliefs. They even mention the specially named Haint Blue paint that is available to protect from them, as well as things like leaving a broom or bowl of rice at doors to stop haints from entering.

Is anyone familiar with this folklore? The podcasters live in the state of Georgia, US and one of them grew up in an area that he knew of haints. Apparently it does originate from Africa. I enjoy different folklore and would love if someone has more knowledge, stories about this folklore.
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Yes lots of blue front porches down there
 
I live in Georgia, but my family is of the poorer variety, so I mostly met them in trailers, which didn't have any haint blue paint unfortunately. I know one great grandmother had a neat old house, but I only met her once when in the single digits and thus I can't remember the porch color. What I do remember is that she had the steepest driveway I've ever seen. As I said earlier, family would use haint for ghosts, but none of them were all that keen to discuss matters of the supernatural.
 
MrRING said:
As I said earlier, family would use haint for ghosts, but none of them were all that keen to discuss matters of the supernatural.
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In the podcast that I linked, the guys try to explain that the word haint isn't quite like the word ghost. As I listened to their explanation, it sounds to be more like a spirit depicted in the movie "The Grudge". More like a vengeful, angry spirit that targets people. I'm not familiar with Japanese folklore either, so can only describe how I kind of understand it.

The caller to the podcast does say that the "oldtimers" will not refer to haints at all due to the thought that it will draw them.
 
Kondoru said:
You would think they would have given up by now since its a superstition from the old days connected to slavery.
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I would think that despite it originated during or due to this practise, that superstition is superstition.
 
I wonder if the term 'haint blue' influenced Farrow and Ball's 'Hague Blue' name? It's a different shade though...
 
Farrow and Ball's 'Hague Blue' is very different, more like a dark slate or grayish teal from what I can see. From Farrow and Ball's website: "This strong blue takes its name from the fantastically coloured woodwork much used by the Dutch."

Haint blue was traditionally made with indigo and is more sky blue. It's very pretty. I find Hague Blue very pretty too, but wouldn't want it indoors. Too dark and cave like.

blues.jpg

And now, back to the haints . . .
 
IbisNibs said:
Farrow and Ball's 'Hague Blue' is very different, more like a dark slate or grayish teal from what I can see. From Farrow and Ball's website: "This strong blue takes its name from the fantastically coloured woodwork much used by the Dutch."

Haint blue was traditionally made with indigo and is more sky blue. It's very pretty. I find Hague Blue very pretty too, but wouldn't want it indoors. Too dark and cave like.

View attachment 61392

And now, back to the haints . . .
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Yes, it's a very different shade, but the name may have been influenced by Haint blue. I think Hague Blue tends to be used by those with houses where the rooms are so large that 'cave like' really doesn't apply.

But then, I find haint blue a bit too bright and wouldn't have it on or in my house.
 
As described by @IbisNibs, it is a sky blue.
.
IbisNibs said:
Haint blue was traditionally made with indigo and is more sky blue. It's very pretty. I find Hague Blue very pretty too, but wouldn't want it indoors. Too dark and cave like
View attachment 61392

And now, back to the haints . . .
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catseye said:
But then, I find haint blue a bit too bright and wouldn't have it on or in my house.
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As far as I understand, the colour is often painted on porch ceilings, possibly entryways. The colour is supposed to reflect the colour of the sky and draw the haints towards there rather than into the home or building.

I too wouldn't want it inside my home, but I think it would look wonderful on a porch ceiling. Especially during the hot summer days while you are sitting in the breeze sipping iced tea.
 
brownmane said:
As described by @IbisNibs, it is a sky blue.
.


As far as I understand, the colour is often painted on porch ceilings, possibly entryways. The colour is supposed to reflect the colour of the sky and draw the haints towards there rather than into the home or building.

I too wouldn't want it inside my home, but I think it would look wonderful on a porch ceiling. Especially during the hot summer days while you are sitting in the breeze sipping iced tea.
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Not much of any of those in the UK...
 
brownmane said:
:bump: I just listened to "The Stuff They Don't Want You To Know" podcast and they had a caller (Plaquetos) requesting that they look into "haints". It's the second topic they discuss in this episode:

I have never heard of haints, and it is the correct spelling and pronunciation for the people who were brought up with these beliefs. They even mention the specially named Haint Blue paint that is available to protect from them, as well as things like leaving a broom or bowl of rice at doors to stop haints from entering.

Is anyone familiar with this folklore? The podcasters live in the state of Georgia, US and one of them grew up in an area that he knew of haints. Apparently it does originate from Africa. I enjoy different folklore and would love if someone has more knowledge, stories about this folklore.
Click to expand...

I do not know if the painting of porch ceilings blue comes from an African source originally. It probably does. I do know that painting porch ceilings light blue is widespread in the US south - as well as in the midwest and the northeast. In homes of whites, blacks, latinos, and others. I have seen the blue ceilings of porches, interior arches, and alcoves in Saudi Arabia. My older aunts, all solidly Polish in culture here in the US, thought that the light blue ceilings were elegant. Blue to keep away the evil eye or misfortune is common among my friends from Turkey and Greece.

Even if the tradition came to the US from Africa, it may have come to Africa from the middle east along the Arabic trading and slaving routes. I think it had nothing to do with NA slavery, but the African traditions which predated slavery in NA have become permanently linked to the slavery. I find this dismaying. Africa and African new world traditions are so much more.
 
“Peaceful, calm and gentle, blue has tremendous power to manage stress. It's a very soothing color that helps calm your mind, slow down your heart rate, lower your blood pressure and reduce anxiety.”

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...hey-affect-your-mood/articleshow/46946305.cms

l would suggest that the colour in which houses are painted is more dependent on:

a) Psychological factors ( as above ), and;

b) Availability of suitable pigments

- than supernatural reasons.

It might be considered similar to the idea of not walking under ladders: The very sensible concern about somebody possibly dropping something on your head has a supernatural layer grafted onto it: “You’re breaking the Holy Trinity”…

maximus otter
 
This is a fascinating little thread. I'd heard the term "haint" or "hant" before - the musician Dock Boggs, who was from the coalmining area of West Virginia, clearly sings "all around this old jailhouse is hainted" in probably his best known song 'Country Blues'. So I think the word has quite a wide use outside Georgia.

There seem to be a couple of older references to a "haint green" as well so perhaps a range of (similar) colours were used.
 
In Safed cemetery, in the North of Israel, a number of graves of righteous men are painted blue.
The tradition is this is to remind us of G-D and heaven, though the graves were painted blue only 30 years ago.

This article discusses more, with a Fortean twist mentioned in the last paragraph.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/safed-cemetery
 
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