Across the globe at this time of year Moravian stars are shining to brighten up our homes, churches and public spaces. Each star reminds us of the Bible story of the star shining brightly over where Jesus was born.
So, how did these stars start? Simply as a way of brightening up some geometry lessons. Moravian schools have always followed the teaching principles of Jan Comenius (1592 – 1670) who believed that children should learn by doing and being encouraged to be curious.
Hence in 1830 in a school in Niesky a teacher challenged the boys to make a 110-point star as part of learning geometry. Today stars vary between 26 and 100 points. It was later that a boy who had attended the school started making these stars to sell in his bookstore; they were so popular that his son created a Star Factory. Despite damage during both world wars and being controlled by the communists, the factory was returned to Moravians and continues to make stars to this day.
Stars as geometry lesson
Below are picture of stars in two Moravian settlements in the UK.
The star at Ockbrook settlement, Derbyshire.
Star in Fulneck settlement, Yorkshire.
From this link you can go to an earlier article I wrote about the many Christmas traditions within the Moravian Church.
https://elizabethwe.co.uk/christingle-and-moravian-star/
As always I will be pleased to hear from you and to receive your comments.
My next series of posts will be titled ‘Anna’s journey’ telling the story of how one young girl travelled many miles from her home, initially as a refugee and much later in her life as the wife of a Count. This will form the basis of my next talk, which will be titled ‘Fulneck: the long journey’ so please pass my details to anyone you know who books speakers: all donations go to charity.
Wishing you each a happy Christmas and a good New Year.
Mary
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