What do Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs mean?
The Pennsylvania Dutch may have mounted hex signs on barns for their purported magical properties. Some believed that hex signs provided protection, fertility for livestock, the right balance of sun and rain, and success with crops. Hex signs could feature a variety of symbols, including birds and flowers.
What do hex signs on barns mean?
The markings, colors, and designs on hex signs are believed by many to protect the barns and the animals housed inside from fire, lightning, sickness and the work of evil spirits, demons and witchcraft. They might augment fertility of livestock or encourage the right balance of sun and rain for success with crops.
Do the Amish use hex signs?
The Amish do not use hex signs.
Why is it called a hex sign?
The “fancy” farmers also decorated their large German style bank barns with colorful geometric patterns. Six-pointed star designs were very popular. The German word for six, “sechs”, sounded like hex to their English-speaking neighbors. In time these “hex” patterns became commonly called hex signs.
What is a daddy hex?
Claypoole calls this design “Daddy Hex.” He says the symbols mean “to keep away famine, plague and all evils of life.” The rosettes “ward-off disease and pestilence.” PHOTO: Eric Claypoole. This design represents the sun, rain and fertility. Claypoole says this design calls for “crop abundance” and “fertility for life. …
What is a hex mark?
Definition of hex mark : a usually stylized often symbolic design placed on a structure (as a building or an enclosure for animals) for the purpose of warding off evil spirits or simply for its decorative effect — compare hexafoos.
What does Daddy hex mean?
PHOTO: Eric Claypoole. Claypoole calls this design “Daddy Hex.” He says the symbols mean “to keep away famine, plague and all evils of life.” The rosettes “ward-off disease and pestilence.” PHOTO: Eric Claypoole. This design represents the sun, rain and fertility.
Are hex signs evil?
One says hex signs are intended to ward off evil. The other, as Claypoole said in Pennsylvania Dutch parlance, is simpler: “They’re just for nice.” Mystical or decorative, hex signs are fascinating. And Berks County may be the hex-sign capital of the United States.
Are all Pennsylvania Dutch Amish?
While most Amish and Old Order Mennonites are of Swiss ancestry, nearly all speak Pennsylvania Dutch, an American language that developed in rural areas of southeastern and central Pennsylvania during the 18th century.
What are Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs?
Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs are a familiar type of motif in the eastern portions of the United States. Their circular and symmetric design, and their use of brightly colored patterns from nature, such as stars, compass roses, doves, hearts, tulips, …
The Pennsylvania Dutch may have mounted hex signs on barns for their purported magical properties. Some believed that hex signs provided protection, fertility for livestock, the right balance of sun and rain, and success with crops. Hex signs could feature a variety of symbols, including birds and flowers.
What are Dutch hex signs?
Sizes: 8″,16″ and 24″
What is a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign?
What is a Dutch hex sign? Originally, the Pennsylvania Dutch painted barn stars directly onto the siding of their barns. Gradually, this changed to the practice of painting the six-pointed stars onto large wooden discs and then mounting them onto barns. These wooden signs became known as hex signs. Click to see full answer.