2006-11-26 08:29:53 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Home & Garden ➔ Other - Home & Garden
it was answered on npr a few weeks ago.
it turns out there are several reasons.
1. wasps (supposedly) won't nest on blue
2. it looks like the sky
3. it is calming
4. it (supposedly) chases away evil spirits
5. people like it.
it is referred to as "haint blue"
2006-11-26 08:35:55 · answer #1 · answered by mikesheppard 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In Savannah and Charleston, this color is known as "hant" or "haint" blue (hants are evil spirits). When slave oweners would make indigo dye, they would give their slaves the dregs left in the bottom of the pots and slaves would paint their porch ceilings as well as their door and window sills with what was left over. In Africa, the color blue symbolized the triumph of good over evil, so it was a very important color to Low country slaves. They would paint all the entrances to their slave cabins with hant blue in order to keep the spirits away.
2006-11-29 05:48:57 · answer #2 · answered by Kate F 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ah ha! I just visited Charleston and Savannah this summer and learned that that is actually a specific blue (sorry, can't remember the name. . . Haint blue?). It was a tradition brought to the US by immigrant slaves and believed to ward off demons and evil spirits. I thought it was pretty neat, and worth consideration!
2006-11-26 09:17:31 · answer #3 · answered by beachblonde 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
wasps and other nest building insects will not build nests there because they will never fly up there, because they think they are flying to the sky. i know this sounds lame, but my house is 100 years old, the porch is blue, and there isn't one nest of any kind of insect there. i guess those bugs are pretty dumb
2006-11-26 08:35:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the old wives tale is spiders think that the blue is the sky so they don't stay. oddly enough, i've actually looked for spiders on these blue porches and there weren't any. true.
2006-11-26 08:33:13 · answer #5 · answered by REALLY 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's an old tradition dating back a couple of hundred years--it's meant to allow bad spirits to leave since it looks like the sky
2006-11-26 08:32:54 · answer #6 · answered by smartdonkey 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
to give a pleasant look to the porch when the sun is shining. It cuts down on the glare as well.
2016-03-29 09:57:56 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Keeps wasps from building nests there....
2006-11-26 08:32:31 · answer #8 · answered by frozenfun 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
to make it look like the sky
2006-11-26 08:31:44 · answer #9 · answered by huckypeep2 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
huh? everyone in my parts paint them white...
2006-11-26 11:57:09 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋