Sunday, June 14, 2009

Brightly Colored Houses



In the Southwestern part of the United States it is common to see houses which have been painted extremely bright colors. This is especially common in the moderate income part of towns, whereas in the more affluent communities most houses are more conservative desert-like earth tones.

This tradition of painting houses bright blue and pink comes from Mexico. Many people assume that it is somehow associated with the Catholic religion. It is actually based upon a pagan belief that these bright colors will ward off evil spirits.

The Spanish brought the tradition to Mexico, and it originally came into Spain when they were invaded by the Arabic Moors from north Africa.

So rather than this being a Catholic or Christian tradition, it may have been an Arabic or Muslim tradition.
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