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A barnstar (or barn star, primitive star, or Pennsylvania star) is a painted object or image, often in the shape of a five-pointed star but occasionally in a circular "wagon wheel" style, used to decorate a barn in some parts of the United States. They have no structural purpose but may be considered lucky, akin to a horseshoe mounted over a doorway. They are especially common in Pennsylvania and frequently seen in German-American farming communities. They are also found in Canada, particularly in the province of Ontario.


History

Barnstars were meant to represent the mark of the builder but became more frequently used for aesthetic purposes and were added to the building after construction was complete. Enthusiasts have traced a number of wooden barnstars to individual builders in the Pennsylvania area, where numerous examples can still be seen. Barnstars were used in the United States during the 18th century and as late as 1870 in Pennsylvania, where their popularity increased greatly following the Civil War. Their regular use preceded that time, however, and stars were commonplace on large buildings, particularly factories, in pre-war
Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...
. Barnstars remain a popular form of decoration, and modern houses are sometimes decorated with simple, metal, five-pointed stars that the makers describe as "barn-stars". They are often deliberately distressed or rusted, alluding to the traditional decoration.


Other star-shaped plates

On older buildings in the
Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-spe ...
area of the United States, it is still possible to find barnstar-like building adornments that are painted, rather than wooden or metal, known as hex signs. Strictly speaking, they are defined apart from barnstars and visually bear only passing resemblance, but the two are often confused and their names are even regarded as interchangeable. Some hex signs incorporate star shapes, while others may take the form of a rosette or contain pictures of birds and other animals. The term barnstar has been applied to star-shaped anchor plates that are used for structural reinforcement, particularly on masonry buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries. These are made of cast iron and are used as anchor plates serving as the washers for
tie rod A tie rod or tie bar (also known as a hanger rod if vertical) is a slender structural unit used as a tie and (in most applications) capable of carrying tensile loads only. It is any rod or bar-shaped structural member designed to prevent the separa ...
s. The anchor-rod-and-plate assembly serves to brace the masonry wall against tilting or lateral bowing. File:Strasburg 51 E Main.JPG, House with a barnstar in Strasburg, Pennsylvania File:Strasburg E Main 109.JPG, House with star anchor plates File:Barnstar anchor plate.jpg, "Barnstar" anchor plate


Internet "barnstars"

Some Wiki-based communities give their users an award called a "barnstar" as a continuation of the "barn raising" metaphor. The practice originated on
MeatballWiki MeatballWiki is a wiki dedicated to online communities, network culture, and hypermedia. According to founder Sunir Shah, it ran on "a hacked-up version of UseModWiki". In April 2013, after several spam attacks and a period of downtime, the sit ...
and was adopted by Wikipedia in 2003. The image that is frequently used for this purpose is actually a photo of one of the structural anchor plates, not of a proper barnstar. At Wikimedia Commons, a website owned by the Wikimedia Foundation, a controversial sex-themed structural anchor plate "barnstar" known as the ''Erotica Barnstar'' (which is formerly known as the ''Hot Sex Barnstar'') is typically awarded to contributors who "tirelessly upload good sexual, nude, and erotic content to Commons". The award is shaped as a structural anchor plate adorned with an erect human penis, a spread-out vulva, and a woman pegging a man using a dildo. In May 2013, this controversial "barnstar" was nominated to be deleted, but the community of the website decided against it. As of 2021, this image has been deleted from Wikimedia Commons.


See also

* Pentagram * Hex sign * Pow-wow,
Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-spe ...
folk magic * Moravian star *
Red star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...
* Star (polygon) * Wikipedia:Barnstars


References


External links

*{{wiktionary-inline, barnstar Visual motifs Architectural elements Building materials Fasteners Luck Lucky symbols Pennsylvania German culture Star symbols