Perhaps nothing symbolizes Pennsylvania Dutch culture more than the hex sign. Some believe hex signs were first added to barns as a kind of painted prayer, usually for blessings and as protection from ...

This barn with a hex sign are pictured at 691 Long Lane (near the intersection of Eagle Point Road) in Maxatawny Twp., Berks County on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. Hex signs are a form of Pennsylvania ...

Among the highlights of this year’s 64th Annual PA Dutch Folk festival was an academic study done by Patrick Donmoyer, a young yet long established historian of our PA Dutch/German folk culture, who ...

Dr. Alfred L. Shoemaker, celebrated authority on Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs, noted these (hex signs) folk art symbols were found locally on Christian made fraktur birth and baptismal certificates ...

It was in her late 20s when Rachel Yoder realized she didn’t know much about her heritage. She yearned to feel connected to her roots, and for Yoder, art was a natural way to do so. “It was my ...

Editor’s note: Welcome to the world of “Paranormal PA,” a PennLive series that delves into Pennsylvania-grown stories of spirits (like the ghost of a murdered girl whose cries can be heard in one of ...

LLENTOWN, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Dutch influence on the state’s Lehigh Valley shines through in any number of ways: the food, the festivals, the language. • A part of the culture’s very soul, however, ...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania Dutch influence on the Lehigh Valley shines through in any number of ways: the food, the festivals, the language. And at the culture's very soul are hex signs -- the ...

I wanted to see distelfinks. But they were hard to find. In Pennsylvania Dutch country, the distelfink — a goldfinch that eats thistle seeds and builds thistledown nests — is a good-luck bird. It also ...