“‘Chust for Nice”

I was talking to a friend who reads my blog and she commented on my remarks on having grown up Pennsylvania Dutch. “Is that like Amish?” she asked incredulous.

It’s a common mistake. For some reason outside of Pennsylvania, people tend to equate the Amish and Mennonites with the Pennsylvania Dutch. The PA Dutch, despite the name, are actually German. My mother’s ancestors on both sides came from Bavaria around the turn of the century and always referred to themselves as “Deutsch”, the German word for “German”. I’ve always assumed that is where the misnomer “Dutch” came from. The Amish and Mennonites are actually more of Swiss extraction though their language - the language they speak to this day - is very similar to the German of my great-grandparents’s time, a form of low German. (My father’s family is mostly Scottish and French which makes me a mutt - or a typical American.)

The Amish are an interesting people, I’ve encountered them a lot growing up, who have made the simple choice to follow the Bible dictate “go out from among them and keep ye separate”. They mostly keep to themselves, make good neighbors, and, like any people that choose to live an uncommon lifestyle, are regarded with suspicion and speculation by some. The ones I’ve known are capable, friendly, and the original DIYs. Since “Do It Yourself” is hot right now, the Amish could be regarded as fashion leaders. They wouldn’t appreciate that though.

But the PA Dutch have a lot of interesting customs and curiosities, not the least of which is the “Hex sign”. I grew up in the shadow of one. Many years ago my father built a cottage, or “shanty” as he called it, which was a 2 room, Alpine-style little house beside our house. One side was a combination tool shed and smoke house, the other side had a pot-bellied stove and bunk beds and was used by us kids as a playhouse when we were young and a party place as we grew into our teens. Up in the gable on the front of the shanty was a big, brightly painted hex sign.

I don’t really know what the meaning or the origin of the hex sign is but, over the years, I’ve been sort of intrigued by the similarity between hex signs and mandalas. A few years back I took a mandala making workshop in which we were given large round pieces of paper and colored pencils then guided into a meditative state to start drawing our mandalas. I’ve never been any good at that kind of stuff. I like the art part but the meditation part is too weird for me. Of course part of that could be because I’ve always been able to just let go of the world when I paint or draw so to me relaxing into that subconscious, creative place is just part of the creative process.



Carl Jung is said to have made a mandala every day. He said it helped him clarify his thinking and focus on where he needed to be. It seems to have worked for him, which is good. Thinking about hex signs in terms of mandalas, I can’t quite imagine any of my PA Dutch fore-bearers being that esoteric but you never know. The legend is that hex signs are to keep the evil spirits out and invite the good ones in. That may be but I tend to believe they are really more just a form of ethnic decoration, or, as my Gram Werner’s people would say in their Dutchie-accent, “‘chust for nice.”

It’s been interesting working on this story. In it, the barn is not decorated with hex signs but rather with another Pennsylvania icon - a Mail Pouch Tobacco Sign. But that’s a story for another day.

Thanks for reading.