On Sunday 02 May 2004 4:52 am, Carl J. Bauman wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >"In earlier times when few people could read, the star on the door > >was for the men, and the moon for the ladies." Why the star? Why the > >moon? Truth be told, we've got no idea. > > We're way OT now, ain't we? > > FWIW, the first paragraph on this page, > http://www.udayton.edu/mary/questions/yq/yq244.html, seems to > connect the waning and waxing of the moon with the female menstrual > cycle,as well as the Virgin Mary. That might explain the crescent > moon for the ladies? It also seems to point to the sun or a star as > a symbol for the Christ, possibly explaining that association with > men. During the colonial and expansionist phases of US history, > literacy was low but most people would've been familiar with this > symbolism even though we've moved away from it in modern times.
I would hazard a guess that the star was originally a stylised sun. I imagine, cutting a hole in the wood, its hard to make the two look much different. For reasons why the moon, take a look at the moon on Tuesday night between 8pm and 10pm (probably BST, = GMT-1) from anywhere in Europe, Africa, Asia or Australia. (I have a feeling Australians wont see much due to it being daylight.) It rises between 8:20 and 9:10 in Britain. -- Richard Urwin
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