Featured image credit: Lake Lou
When searching for that perfect paint color for your front porch, someone somewhere may have suggested the color “haint blue”. If that somewhere was in the southern United States, the probability of the suggestion goes way up. Never heard of haint blue? It refers to a range of color shades rather than a clear-cut color itself. But you can count on it being a pale combination of blue and green. You may have noticed haint blue paint liberally applied to porches… particularly the ceilings. It’s a tradition harkening back to a tumultuous time in America’s history. And while believers thought haint blue was a protection from otherworldly spirits, it did little to stave off the real monsters.
A Tradition Steeped in Gullah Culture
To truly understand the cultural significance of applying haint blue paint to southern porches, you first need to understand the Gullah. The Gullah are a regional subgroup of African Americans descended from people who were forcibly taken from their homeland and enslaved, relegated to toil in the fields and plantations of the Lowcountry. The Gullah struggled to successfully maintain much of their original African heritage, transcending the bonds of slavery by passing on practices and beliefs through generations.
Though taken away from their homes, their families, and their rightful lives, the Gullah facilitated a gently evolving culture that impressed itself on life in southern states like the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, especially in the Lowcountry region. This ties in directly to the prevalence of haint blue ceilings on porches across the Lowcountry. You may notice it’s often liberally applied to doors, shutters, and window paneling as well. Why? To keep the haints out, of course.
What is a Haint?
You’d be forgiven to think that “haint” is simply a goofy moniker referring to a color that “haint quite blue, but haint quite green.” But the word “haint” actually defines something a bit more eerie. Though you likely haven’t heard of “haints” in California, the word evolved from the more commonly known “haunt.” The Gullah colloquially referred to ghosts or malevolent spirits as “haints.” Some Gullah don’t believe in haints at all. Others have a more specific entity in mind when referencing the haint: a stalking witch that relentlessly pursues victims until they expire from exhaustion.
The Use of Haint Blue Paint to Ward Off Ghosts
No matter what the Gullah meant when they referenced haints, they could agree that they didn’t want them coming anywhere near where they slept. So, they’d often coat the entry points (windows, doors, and the like) to their slave quarters with paint of a haint blue shade.
The Gullah believed that haint blue paint confused the undead. A haint confronted by a porch with a pale green-blue ceiling would mistake it for the limitless sky above and float upward in its disorientation, bypassing the home’s entryway completely. Likewise, the belief held that haints loathed water. Mistaking haint blue paint around entryways for tranquil bodies of water, the twisted spirits would refuse to cross. Some Gullah even suspended blue glass bottles from trees to ensnare prowling haints.
Of course, not every Gullah believed in haints or the mystical powers of haint blue paint. But the belief was popular enough that it began to take hold with the white slaveowners and their families. Soon, they too were adopting the use of haint blue paint in windows and doorways. Perhaps some didn’t fully subscribe to the idea. But they ultimately decided it was better to be safe than sorry.
The Indigo Trade
Sadly, the Gullah’s use of haint blue paint is even further tied to America’s history of enslaving people. Southern plantations commonly farmed the indigo plant for its use in manufacturing dye. As the slaves of these plantations, the Gullah had grimly uncommon access to the key ingredient for their anti-haint recipe. Unfortunately, haint blue paint didn’t repel the more immediate threat to enslaved Gullahs… the plantation owners. On the contrary, they frequently found the color distinctly charming.
By the time of the Civil War, indigo as a cash crop was in its death throes. The Revolutionary War had already crippled exports of the crop. But new strides in synthetic dye production further handicapped demand for indigo. The Gullah of today still recall the profound impact that indigo farming had on their ancestors. In reverence of their heritage, modern Gullah often use indigo liberally in art, crafts, and fashion, keeping that cultural awareness alive.
The Modern Day Haint Blue Paint Aesthetic
The trend of painting porch ceilings with haint blue paint persevered through the decades, though it’s pretty much just an aesthetic choice these days. Rumors persist with such conviction of the color’s tendency to repel insects that some people colloquially refer to it as “dirt dauber blue” (a dirt dauber being a type of wasp).
Yet, there is no scientific research that backs haint blue paint as an effective insect repellant. The misconception possibly arose from the inclusion of natural insect repellants lime or lye as common paint ingredients. Yet, modern paint formulas no longer incorporate lime or lye.
Over the years, haint blue has maintained enough popularity to earn name recognition in the rosters of notable paint manufacturers. Despite its checkered past, it remains a popular choice for homes well beyond the southern U.S. The tendency for haint blue paint to conjure up feelings of promising skies and placid lakes offers a soothing quality to areas of repose. And, if it happens to keep the odd ghost at bay, all the better.
