Here’s What Five Point Stars On Maine Barns and Homes Stand For

I was driving the other day and noticed a barn star on a house. I've seen metal barn stars so often that I started wondering if they had any significance, it turns out they have a pretty interesting story behind them.

According to Wide Open Country, German settlers originally painted these hex stars on their barns to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck. The word hex is derived from the word "hexe", which is German for witch.

The early painted primitive star looked more like an Amish quilt square and could be pretty elaborate.

Time went by and in the 1930s and 1940s artists started creating them for decoration out of roof tiles, now most of them are made of metal.

You can buy these barn stars just about anywhere now and the farmhouse decorating style has brought them into homes.

When choosing a star keep in mind that each color has meaning:

• Blue and black- protection
• Green- fertility and prosperity for the farm
• White- purity
• Violet- holiness
• Brown- friendship, strength and honor to Mother Earth

You'll find these barn stars all over Maine and New Hampshire and they are a charming piece of Americana. I hope you enjoy them even more now that you know what they represent. What a great housewarming gift they would be.