{"id":703,"date":"2011-09-23T17:24:02","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T21:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thequicksliver.wordpress.com\/?p=703"},"modified":"2011-09-23T17:24:02","modified_gmt":"2011-09-23T21:24:02","slug":"9-23-11-what-the-hex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/9-23-11-what-the-hex\/","title":{"rendered":"9.23.11 What the Hex?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/a>The Wheel just turned, and it’s time to get your Hex on.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a>This morning at 5:04 EDT, we crossed the Autumnal Equinox.\u00a0 You probably heard Wiccans and Druids in your backyard chanting and celebrating the turning of the Wheel from the Harvest to the Winter.\u00a0 What’s that?\u00a0 We don’t do those Pagan things here in America?<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a>OK, take a drive through Pennsylvania. The area was settled in the 1700’s by German farmers who came in search of cheap land and religious freedom.\u00a0 These “Pennsylvania Dutch” (er, “Deutsch,” actually) were of two types: Amish and Mennonites who moved west, and Lutherans who stayed in the east.\u00a0 They were all pressured to give up their old-country ways, stop speaking German, and integrate into their new country.\u00a0 But they quietly held on to some traditions.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a>Some of their culture exploded into the open around 1840.\u00a0 At that time, affordable paints came onto the market which allowed farmers to paint their barns for the first time.\u00a0 Almost overnight, boring brown farms became red, green and white.\u00a0 And many of the barns were given a curious decorative element:\u00a0 they were adorned with large circular emblems filled with colorful agrarian symbols.\u00a0 The Sun for warmth and Stars for harmony.\u00a0 A Goldfinch means luck, a Dove means friendship, and an Eagle is for strength.\u00a0 Tulips are for faith, Wheat for abundance.\u00a0 Oak for long life, Rain for fertility.\u00a0 And the circular Wheel of the Seasons turning around it all.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a>But, curiously, the symbols are commonly known as “Hex Signs,”- from the German word “hex” which means “witch” – implying they might have a deeper, perhaps darker, significance.\u00a0 Some folks point out their common use of pentagrams, and elements in multiples of six, a number often associated with the occult. Hex Signs have become popular in the tourist trade for their presumed ability to protect the owner from various disasters.\u00a0 Interestingly, Lutherans integrate Hex Signs extensively, while the more old-school Amish and Mennonites shun them.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a>So what the hex do we have here, harmless folk art or dark magic?\u00a0 Maybe a little of both.\u00a0 Perhaps Hex Signs can change the weather, protect a building from lightning, and keep the cows healthy.\u00a0 Or maybe a little superstition makes for good marketing .<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a>Or maybe they’re just cool to look at.\u00a0 Perhaps, despite all their cultural and religious significance, Hex Signs are – as an old German farmer might say – “chust for nice.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wheel just turned, and it’s time to get your Hex on. This morning at 5:04 EDT, we crossed the Autumnal Equinox.\u00a0 You probably heard Wiccans and Druids in your backyard chanting and celebrating the turning of the Wheel from the Harvest to the Winter.\u00a0 What’s that?\u00a0 We don’t do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[48,416,490,568,767,807],"class_list":["post-703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-6","tag-amish","tag-farming","tag-german","tag-hex-signs","tag-lutheran","tag-mennonites"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}