Ask A PA Dutchman: Thoughts on Hex Signs!

This month's question comes in from Rory Baston or Potter County, PA. Rory wants to know our thoughts on Hex Signs!
To learn more about Hex Signs: glencairnmuseum.org/newslette...
Eric Claypoole Hex Signs: claypoolehexsigns.com/
Hunter Yoder Hex Signs: www.huntermyoder.com/apps/web...
Rachel Yoder Art and Hex Signs: www.rachelyoderart.net/
To support the channel: www.buymeacoffee.com/dougmade...

[@virginiasoskin9082]

Yeah, I think there were local hex sign painters just like we have them today. I suppose if you have a new barn and want some signs painted on it, there are certain people you can go call. I have a hex sign painted by a guy in Kutztown (my hometown) Bill Schuster, hanging on a patio wall here in Oviedo (NE Orlando) Florida. Hex signs make ME happy too. Hex sign motifs often melt into paintings on wooden chests, on quilt patterns, and printed tea towels, mugs, etc. There are hex sign painters but you will often find printed ones in restaurants and shops that aren't hand made. It was good for ME to grow up in an area that was so colorful and full of folk art and imagery. You could not HELP but be influenced by PA folk art. Interesting that Kutztown University has a very strong art program (where I went, majoring in painting back then).

[@camilleney7487]

There used to be an advertisement for a Hex sign painter on Route 30 coming from St. Thomas into Chambersburg
And at least a few of the barns and buildings had them.
Also, some people have commercial ones hanging here and there here in Franklin County.
Oh, and then there's the Penn Dutch Market...in Hagerstown Maryland lol.

[@edwardfitzgerald8330]

I have a circular Belsnickel painting which goes up on my front door every Christmas. Not really a Hex sign per se I guess, but it is a signed Hunter Yoder original work.

[@bazukajoe52]

Have three hex signs in my house in NC. Along with two hex signs tattoos. Born in shoemakersville pa! Family has been in pa since early 1700s!

[@Andrea-ky9lh]

I'm not PA Dutch but born and raised in PA, and I really enjoy learning about the PA Dutch culture. It makes me proud to be from Pennsylvania!

[@abigailbogenreif]

I don’t mind other folk enjoying Fraktur or Hex Signs if they appreciate and are educated from where it comes. Maybe I would push for the art to be purchased or made from Deitsch folk?
My family are old Palantine Lutherans (Bogenreif = Bow Benders) Not sure how I would feel about sharing the rosette, but I would rather us not be forgotten.
ps. Thank you for your videos on the Deitsch language. It wasn’t safe speaking it during WW2 so I’ve only ever known Dutchie. Your work has been shared with my family and all of us enjoy it very much :)

[@lianehargrove2440]

I'm born and raised PA, PA Dutch mutt. Living in Oklahoma now and proudly display hex signs at my home and have a partial distelfink hex sign tattoo (couldn't afford a full one, lol). Proud to display my heritage.

[@kdevon4736]

I grew up in Lehigh Valley and moved to CA in 1987. In 2019 my mom moved out to CA. She was adamant about getting a Hex sign to go above her garage. And she was successful! If I was computer savvy enough, I'd attach a pix, but I'm not sure how. All her neighbors love how colorful it is! She always has to explain the meaning.

[@kdevon4736]

But I will admit, that when she tells them it's a Hex sign, most people think it's a negative thing. It gives her a chance to explain the colors, symbols, etc. Then they seem to understand.

[@anneross5362]

How did WWI and WWII affect PA Dutch folks? Did they also stop speaking PA Dutch in public out of fear of being arrested as suspected spies? My mother was raised in NY. Both sides of her family were German but only her father’s side was PA Dutch. I was the first generation not to be raised bilingual, which breaks my heart. During WWI and WWII my grandmother stopped working as a German teacher because it became illegal to teach German in NY. She told me about being afraid to speak German in public. My mothers family was so traumatized by all this that my mother and grandmother rarely spoke more that a short sentence or two of German around us. “Das ist verboten” was one of the few sentences I learned. But my mother never told me what it was like during the wars for her father’s PA Dutch family so I’d love to hear more about the PA Dutch experience during the wars. Thanks for answering my question.

[@PADutch101]

The World Wars were really hard on the preservation of our language. Many families during those times made the decision to not pass the language on to their children. Also, the push in schools was to completely rid the classroom and school yard of PA Dutch. Of course there were families that did not give up the language, but between the wars, the number of speakers definitely declined and that decline would continue during the post WWII decades as well. There was no economic need for PA Dutch post WWII.

[@nicholeregul4906]

Moved to TN, still visit PA bucks county and family. We have 2 hex signs for our barn. We have a small wilkum sign for our front door. My grandfather will be the last pa Dutch speaking family member.

[@bigfish8280]

My name is Coy, I'm from New York. Randomly found your channel guys.when did your families come to America?
On my father's side, my family from the country of wales has been in West Virginia since the 1700's.
I also have Cherokee blood. Obviously they've been in America for 10s of thousands of years...
I alway love meeting new people and learning about them and their history!!!!!!!

[@PADutch101]

Both of family trees begin here in colonial America (early 1700s).

[@bigfish8280]

I'm also Italian, Slovakian, Irish, German on top of being Welsh & Native American

[@paulgodfrey1238]

I am going to design and paint one on my shed

[@seaglass1111]

Diagnosed with covid today feeling like I was hit by a truck. Thank you for making these videos. Never stop!! It hurts right now to laugh, but I am.
I have a question to send in to you guys and I completely forgot what it was..and it was a good one lol

[@paulgodfrey1238]

Hope you feel better soon

[@3941602]

Firstly I love Chris Larose shirt. It is epic!!! I want one!!!
Hex signs, water dowsing, white magic, " The helpers Friend" have occultic roots not of God but is integrated because of the culture. Pow Wow or folk healing is nit if God If someone puts a hex or a spell it is not the workings of God . Only God is divine.Anyways keep up the great work Doug and Co. Love the channel as much as Chris' shirt

[@donaldmoyer9194]

I like to think, when I see a hex sign out of the Dutch area, that it’s a missed placed Dutchman letting everyone know he there.

[@PADutch101]

I agree!

[@camilleney7487]

I'd love to get a hex sign tattoo but I'm not sure which design(s) would be okay. I don't want to be stealing anyone's art.