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Hex signs are a form of Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, related to fraktur, found in the Fancy Dutch tradition in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. [1] Barn paintings, usually in the form of "stars in circles", began to appear on the landscape in the early 19th century and became widespread decades later when commercial ready-mixed paint became readily ...
Fraktur is a highly artistic and elaborate illuminated folk art created by the Pennsylvania Dutch, named after the Fraktur script associated with it. Place of creation also includes Alsace, Switzerland, and Rhineland which are also contributed to the folk art. [1]
Just as Fancy Dutch or their descendants no longer speak the Pennsylvania Dutch language with any regularity (or at all, in many cases), they are not necessarily religious anymore, meaning that calling them "Church Dutch" is no longer particularly apt, although even among those that no longer regularly attend any church, many remain cultural ...
It frequently appears in Pennsylvania Dutch folk art. [2] It represents happiness and good fortune and the Pennsylvania German people, and is a common theme in hex signs and in fraktur. The word distelfink (literally 'thistle-finch') is (besides Stieglitz) the German name for the European goldfinch. [3]
Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs are a familiar type of motif in the eastern portions of the United States. Their circular and symmetric design, and their use of brightly colored patterns from nature, such as stars, compass roses, doves, hearts, tulips, leaves, and feathers have made them quite popular. [citation needed]
Some hex signs incorporate star shapes, while others may take the form of a rosette or contain pictures of birds and other animals. [ 7 ] The term barnstar has been applied to star-shaped anchor plates that are used for structural reinforcement, particularly on masonry buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries.
An alternative interpretation commonly found among laypeople and scholars alike is that the Dutch in Pennsylvania Dutch is an anglicization or "corruption" (folk-etymological re-interpretation) of the Pennsylvania German autonym deitsch, which in the Pennsylvania German language refers to the Pennsylvania Dutch or Germans in general.
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