A Russian traveler, studying the life, traditions and habits of the inhabitants of the United States during his trip around the country, saw large five-pointed stars on the walls of American houses and was taken aback. “What are these communist houses with a red star found in America?” he thought.
As the tourist noted in his blog on Yandex.Zen, the red-red star was “one to one, like on the old Soviet symbols.” “Well, something, but you don’t expect to see such things in America. After all, you are not in the Russian quarter of New York. And then there was another star. And more, and more … And if with the last star, in a circle above the entrance to the house, it is even more or less clear, because. it’s made in the state of Texas, but with the rest it’s far from being so simple, ”the blogger shared.
As it turned out, in Texas, the state of the Lone Star, the reason for the appearance of this sign on the houses simple – this symbol is in the state coat of arms, and the locals thus express their patriotism and belonging to the area. Therefore, a five-pointed figure of various types and sizes can be found there on almost every house.
What about the rest of the states? The explanation for the presence of a red five-pointed star familiar to citizens of Russia and the countries of the post-Soviet space is rather unexpected. And it is really connected with Soviet symbols. True, only indirectly. “Remember Arkady Gaidar's Timur and His Team? There, the pioneers painted stars on the gates of houses, from which someone had gone to the Red Army, when they took these houses under guardianship. So they on American houses also mean that someone from the family took part in the hostilities, – said the compatriot. – Moreover, this tradition appeared just during the Second World War, i.e. during the same period when the famous story by Arkady Gaidar was extremely popular in the USSR.”
It was clarified that the meaning of the color of American stars completely coincides with the meaning of Timurov's. Thus, veteran stars on American homes are found in three colors:
- Red – a sign that a family member was wounded in the war.
- Bronze – the family of a veteran or personnel lives in the house military.
- Gold – the family of the deceased soldier lives.
We add that in a number of states, for example, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, New York and even in Canada (Ontario) the question of placing the figure on private homes goes back to a deeper history than the stars of Texas. In the 18th century, large groups of German-speaking European religious Amish immigrants settled in these territories. Along with other traditions and beliefs, they took with them the tradition of decorating houses with stars for good luck and to protect against evil forces.
As for places such as Louisiana, Georgia, as well as the New England region, which includes the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, ordinary-looking five-pointed stars may well be a symbol of the owners' belonging to the descendants of Akkadians deported from former French colonies in the 19th century.
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