PBS39 News Reports
Hex signs
Clip: Season 2018 | 6m 7sVideo has Closed Captions
Hex signs are works of art and symbols of good luck or good fortune for the Pennsylvanians
HEX SIGNS: You see them on barns in Berks and Lancaster counties. Hex signs are works of art and symbols of good luck or good fortune for the Pennsylvania Dutch. We meet with an artist who designs them and a professor who explains their significance in German culture. BRITTANY
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PBS39 News Reports is a local public television program presented by PBS39
PBS39 News Reports
Hex signs
Clip: Season 2018 | 6m 7sVideo has Closed Captions
HEX SIGNS: You see them on barns in Berks and Lancaster counties. Hex signs are works of art and symbols of good luck or good fortune for the Pennsylvania Dutch. We meet with an artist who designs them and a professor who explains their significance in German culture. BRITTANY
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>>> BEAUTIFUL WORKS OF ART OFTEN GO UNNOTICED.
HEX SIGNS ARE ALL ACROSS LEHIGH VALLEY, WHETHER THE STARS OR FLOWERS, IT JUST DEPENDS ON THE AREA THAT T ARE IN.
WE FOUND OUT WHAT THE MEAN BEHIND THEM REALLY IS.
>> THE COLORS, AND THE SUPPOS IT IS FOLK ART AT ITS VERY BEST.
>> Reporter: WITH EACH BRU STROKES, ERIC CLAYPOOLE IS STEP CLOSER TO COMPLETING HEX SIGN ON THIS 1789 BARN >> IT IS NICE TO SEE THE B STILL UP, AND SEE THEM PA IT.
THEY WERE THE BIGGEST BUIL OF THEIR TIME, OTHER THAN CHURCHES.
THEY ARE A FOCAL POINT OF >> Reporter: THE BARN OWNE FELL IN LOVE WITH THE DESI OFTEN SEEN THROUGHOUT BERK COUNTY, AND WANTED TO RE-C THEM ON HER OWN PROPERTY N EDGARTOWN, BUCKS COUNTY.
>> I WANTED TO MAKE THIS A SANCTUARY.
>> THE BARN STAR WAS NOT ENOUGH, SHE WANTED MORE TH ON IT, WHICH REPRESENT PROSPERITY, AND THEN WE PU "WELCOME" UNDERNEATH THE S IT IS A 12 POINT STAR WITH POINT CENTER COMPOSTER, TH WHAT I CALL THAT ONE.
AT 12 POINT STAR REPRESENT THE 12 APOSTLES, AND PROSPERITY.
>> Reporter: CLAYPOOL -- CLAYPOOLE IS A SECOND- GENERATION PAINTER, SOMETH HE DOESN' WEAKENED.
HE EXPLAINS THERE ARE DIFF METHODS TO GOING ABOUT THI ART.
ONE WAY IS FOR THE BARN OW TO DECIDE WHAT THEY WANT, ANOTHER IS TO RE-CREATE WH WAS ONCE THERE.
>> THERE IS A THING CALLED GHOST WHICH IS AN IMPRESSI AN OLD BARN STAR ON THE BA IT IS WEATHERED IN FROM 15 YEARS OF WEATHERING FROM T RAIN.
IT IS A RAISED IMPRESSION IT BEING INSCRIBED IN, AS DEGRADES, THE INSCRIBED PA GET HARDER, IT DEGRADES SL THE OTHER WOOD DEGRADES FA >> Reporter: MANY PEOPLE H TRYING TO DECIPHER WHAT TH MEAN.
>> SOME SAY THEY ARE DESIG TO WARD OFF RED ROOF -- ROOSTERS.
OTHERS ARE CULTURAL, THEY BY THE SEASONS, SOME THOUG THE STARS WERE INVOLVED IN PAINTING -- THAT WAS PART THAT.
>> MANY PEOPLE SAID THEY A JUST FOR NICE.
THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT THEY WERE SOMETHIN POSITIVE FOR THE FARM, MAY BLESSING OF THE BARN.
>> Reporter: THE DIRECTOR AN 11 HAS STUDIED THE PAIN FOR THE LAST DECADE.
>> WE HAVE A ROBUST LIVING TRADITION OF DECORATED BAR HERE IN THIS REGION, THAT UNLIKE ANY OTHER IN THE UN STATES.
>> Reporter: HE EVEN WROTE BOOK ON HIS FINDINGS, CALL HEX SIGNS, MYTHS AND MEAN IN PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH BARN STARS.
>>> I HAVE PUT FORTH THE I THAT THIS FINISHING TRADIT AS PEOPLE HAD THOUGHT OF I THAT POINT IN TIME, THAT T TRADITION NEEDED TO BE DOCUMENT IT.
>> Reporter: AND THE FINDI WERE WORTH THE RESEARCH.
>> WHEN I STARTED SERVING DECORATED BARNS IN 2008, P ORIGINALLY THOUGHT THAT TH WERE ONLY AROUND -- THERE ONLY ABOUT 200 DECORATED B IN ALL OF SOUTHEASTERN PAR IT, I WAS ABLE TO FIND 50 BERKS COUNTY ALONE.
>> Reporter: THERE ARE ALS CLOSE TO 200 IN LEHIGH COU AND MORE IN MONTGOMERY AND BUCKS COUNTIES AS WELL.
HE NOTES THAT THESE INTRIC DESIGNS ARE OFTEN ASSOCIAT WITH THE SUPERNATURAL.
>>> MANY OF THE IDEAS THAT PEOPLE HAVE ABOUT HEX SIGN LARGELY INFLUENCED BY IDEA FROM THE 1950s, AND EARLY CENTURY, WHEN TOURISM WAS REALLY BECOMING A MAJOR FO HERE IN THIS PART OF PENNSYLVANIA.
PEOPLE WERE COMING FROM AL OVER THE EASTERN UNITED ST TO VISIT THE PENNSYLVANIA CULTURAL REGION, AND THE S WAS THAT THESE DESIGNS HAD PUT THERE SPECIFICALLY TO THE BARN.
AGAINST SUPERNATURAL FORCE SUCH AS WITCHES, AND THE W HEX IS THE PENNSYLVANIA D WORD FOR WHICH.
>> Reporter: DAWN BELIEVE TO BE UNTRUE, SAYING THAT NOTION CAN BE TRACED BACK AUTHOR FROM THE 1920S, AND COINED THE TERM HEX SIGNS.
DON SAYS THE LOCAL PEOPLE REJECT THE STORY, BUT IT I PERPETUATED TODAY.
>> ARTISTS ARE INSPIRED BY OF THESE STORIES OF THE SUPERNATURAL, OR SOMETIMES STORIES ABOUT HOW THEY MAY BEEN, IN SOME WAY SEE, A BLESSING -- IN SOME WAY, A BLESSING FOR THE BARN.
>> THEY ARE NOT FADING WIT TIME.
>> BARNS ARE STILL BEING P MAYBE AS MANY AS HALF A DO YEAR.
THE NUMBERS ARE GRADUALLY STEADILY INCREASING FOR EV LOSS OF AN OLD BARN THAT W HAVE, WE HAVE 5-6 TO REPLA IT.
>> Reporter: THANKS TO THE EFFORTS OF THOSE LIKE ERIC CLAYPOOLE, WHO DAWN SAYS THE FOREMOST PAGER IN PRES- DAY, AND GROUPS LIKE THE H TOUR ASSOCIATION WHO HELPE SUBSIDIZE THE REPAINTING O LOCAL BARNS .
>> IT IS VERY HISTORICAL A IT DATES BACK 200-300 YEAR THE STAR HAS BEEN AROUND FOREVER, EVERY CULTURE THO IT TO BE POWERFUL IN SOME INTERESTING GEOMETRY.
>> Reporter: SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLANIA HAS MORE DECOR BARNS THAN ANY OTHER PART PENNSYLVANIA, BUT THE DESI CAN BE FOUND AROUND THE COUNTRY.
>> THE INTERESTING THING A THE DESIGNS IS THAT YOU CA FIND THEM IN A LOT OF DIFF PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES DECORATIVE FURNITURE, ON I THAT WERE PAINTED IN THE H THE PENNSYLANIA DUTCH CULT DID NOT JUST STAY HERE IN PENNSYLVANIA, IT MIGRATED THE MIDWEST.
INTO PARTS OF THE SHENANDO VALLEY, ALSO TO THE FAR VA OF THE UNITED STATES, AND WEST COAST.
ANYWHERE THAT PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH PEOPLE WENT, THEY CA THESE WITH THEM.
>> Reporter: AS FOR THE BA GETTING A FACELIFT, THE O WELCOMES THE EXTRA ATTENTI THE HEX SIGNS BRING.
>> IT WILL BE MORE EYE-CAT BECAUSE IT IS VERY EASY TO BY AND NOT LOOK, BUT SOME LIKE THIS, OUT OF THE CORN YOUR EYE, SOMETHING LIKE W HEX IS DOING -- ERIC CLAY IS DOING, IS GOING TO CATC YOUR EYE.
>> Reporter: AND ERIC CLAYPOOLE SAYS THESE DESIG ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE.
>> THEY LOOK AND HOLD UP IN THE ELEMENTS.
THE FATE GRACEFULLY OVERTI >> Reporter: FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE BEAUTIF HEX SIGNS PAINTED IN THE VISIT PBS39.ORG.
I AM BRITTANY SWEENEY FOR PBS39.
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