Helloing a House

I’ve finished reading Devil’s Hearth, the first in a series of Phillip De Poy’s mysteries set in the Georgia Appalachians. He mentions their habit of helloing the house that probably isn’t used anymore. This was the custom of standing out in front of the house, or back, depending on where you arrive at the house and calling out the person’s name. Inside the house, the person would call back to come on in. Or not.

This is what we did when I was a kid. We always went to the back door of our friends’ houses and called their name. We never knocked on the door or rang a doorbell until we became teenagers too sophisticated for such ways. I never gave a thought to where the idea came from or why kids don’t do it today.

Apparently the custom goes back to the early Scottish Celtic time and possibly other cultures, too. I imagine it would’ve let the folks know it was a friendly caller not an invader.