Like so many other things, barn stars are a custom that has been passed down over the decades, and are believed to have their roots in Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish communities.

Fascinatingly, the different colors of stars mean different things. Brown stars are believed to symbolize friendship and strength, for example, while white stars tell of purity and energy. If you see a violet star, meanwhile, it means holiness, while blue or black are intended to provide protection for the farm in question.

Then there’s green stars, symbolizing growth and fertility for the crops growing on the farm, while bright yellow stars speak of love of man and the sun.

Then there are ‘hex stars’, which according to reports aren’t the same as barn stars and even appeared over one century after them.

You may have seen these as well, from time to time, and they first began appearing in the 1950s. As per the Kuztown Folk Festival, there was a transition from barn star to hex star signs started by one Milton Hill in 1952.

Then, in the late 1950s, a Pennsylvania Dutch folk painter named Johnny Ott began attaching superstitious meanings to his signs, finding that they sold much better when he did. It didn’t take long for the trend to catch on, and these designs began to travel the world, known as “hex signs”.