By Luana M. Graves Sellars
Sometimes called robins egg blue or carolina blue, haint blue is more than just a popular Lowcountry color. Used on porch ceilings or a home’s front entrance, haint blue is rooted in Gullah tradition and represents a deeper spiritual meaning.
Based in African culture, the Gullah spiritual tradition uses the color for comfort and protection or to ward off evil or unwanted spirits, called haints or boo hags, that might want to spread chaos. The haints were thought to be distracted or tricked by the color, which was thought to be confused with heaven, prevented them from crossing a porch or entering a home. The shade of blue, derived from the indigo plants that were grown throughout Lowcountry plantations, it is believed, was similar to the sky or of water, which the spirits could not cross.
The Gullah tradition of painting entries haint blue, became a Lowcountry favorite on plantation houses that continues today.
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