Bruce Ross

A Six-Pointed Star

Our guide Moha was explaining over the course of days the intricacy of Berber history in Morocco. I wanted to know the meaning of the five-pointed star on the nation’s flag. He said originally the star had six points, a Seal of Solomon or Star of David, and that once many Berbers practiced Judaism. I saw this star on the walls of several long-abandoned Jewish cemeteries. The five-pointed star was the national airline logo, really a shooting star with a long tail. He didn’t know exactly why the star shape changed, sometime after World War I, apparently during the period of colonialism. I read that perhaps the five points represented the five pillars of Islamic belief and practice. Day after day I noticed the star on flags and wall paintings of flags. Near the end of our travels I glanced out the car window and subconsciously resolved things.

Moroccan door
hidden in the decoration
six-pointed star