About 300 years ago, groups of peasant farmers from the Rhine region of Germany migrated to southeastern Pennsylvania. These settlers came to take advantage of religious freedom being offered by William Penn. They included settlers of plain dress -Amish and Mennonites - and others of more "worldly" or "fancy" dress - Lutherans and other Reformed groups. Over time, these settlers became known as "Pennsylvania Dutch".
Like other immigrants, they brought their old world language, dress, traditions and art to their new home. Mystical bird and floral designs graced their birth and marriage certificates, family Bibles, quilts, and some furniture. 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. This custom persists today.
These bright, colorful designs had meanings or legends. Families selected a hex sign based on color, design and its meaning. Some of the more popular symbols included: hearts for love, birds (called distelfinks) for luck and happiness, tulips for faith, and stars for good luck. The colors used for painting were also carefully chosen because of their added meaning. Blue conveyed protection, white purity, green abundance and red strong emotion. The hex symbols were individually hand painted for many years. This approach, naturally very time consuming, limited hex sign use and enjoyment even in the Dutch Country.
Assorted round magical signs and symbols used by the Pennsylvania Dutch, principally for protection against heverei (Witchcraft) but also to bring about spells. These signs serve both as amulets and talismans. Traditionally, hex signs are painted on barns, stables and houses for protection against lightning, to ensure fertility and protect animal and human occupants alike from becoming ferhexed, or bewitched. The hex sign are also painted on candles; household goods such as kitchen utensils and racks; and on wooden and metal disks which can be hung in windows.
Various hex signs have a distinct meaning. Some of the symbols and designs date back to the Bronze Age � such as the Swastika or solar wheel, symbol of the Cult of the Sun � and to the ancient Crete and Mycenae. Most of the common designs or symbols are enclosed in a circle, such as stars with five, six or eight points which are trudenfuss or pentagrams; variations of swastikas and hearts. The six-petaled flower/star, a fertility hex sign, is painted on utensils and tools related to livestock, especially horses, on linen, on weaver�s tools, mangling boards and other items. Pomegranates also are use for fertility; oak leaves for male fertility; an eagle or rooster with a heart for strength and courage; hearts and tulips for love, faith and happy marriages.
Other hex signs are designed for healing, the accumulation of material goods and money, starting or stopping rain and innumerable other purposes. A charm or incantation is said during the making of the hex sign. There is very little information concerning hex signs because it is considered taboo for the Pennsylvania Dutch to talk about them to outsiders.
The custom for using hex signs was derived from the Old World, brought from Germany and Switzerland by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 1700s and 1800s. In the old Saxon religion it was customary to paint protective symbols on barns and houses. In Germany, tradition calls for the hex signs to be placed on the frames of barns, but not houses; in Switzerland, it was customary to place the sign on houses. The Pennsylvania Dutch adopted both practices developing regional customs in style and placement of hex signs.
The signs proliferated the Pennsylvania Dutch area throughout the 19th century but began to wane in the 20th century as belief in magical arts declined
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