I’ve noticed a number of houses, barns, mobile homes, etc. that have a decorative feature of a 5 point 3D star. Something like this:
http://www.xaraxone.com/webxealot/workbook52/star-08.gif
Does such a feature have any significance? I was wondering if there was any military connection since it looks like something from a award medal.
They’re actually called “barnstars”, though I don’t know the details of their origin.
Here’s its symbols.com entry; nothing really jumps out at me, though. There are also various related entries here.
As a WAG, perhaps it’s related to the pentagram in its meaning as a ward against druden? Those were often painted on doorsteps to protect against their nightly visits.
I think their origin involves heavier cast iron plates that were sometimes put on the outside of brick walls to anchor reinforcements. One 5 story brick building I know well was moved about 100 feet and got this reinforcement treatment. The plates were sometimes plain squares but also sometimes given decorative forms. I suspect the new, lightweight, nonstructural decorations that have been popular in recent years may take their design from those older plates.
Well, at our State House they have a bunch of those on the walls and in the floor where Sherman’s cannonballs hit. Probably that’s not what they mean on your mobile home, though.
