The five-pointed star as a popular decoration for barns and households.
The star is usually called a “Amish star” or a “Pennsylvania star”, but maybe more officially the barnstar. It does originate from Pennsylvania, but it is not from the Amish culture.
The story begins in the eighteenth century, in Palatinate of the Rhine, when groups of people were religiously presecuted. These people are Anabaptists, who are Christians who believe that “baptism is only valid when the candidate confesses his or her faith in Christ and wants to be baptized”. The Anabaptists refused to take oaths and participate in military actions or civil government because of their belief, which resulted in the presecution. The group of Anabaptists who followed Jakob Ammann is called Amish.
In 1775, the german-speaking anabaptists, including the Amish and the non-Amish, immigrated to Pennsylvania to seek religious freedom. These people were referred to first using the word “Deutsch” by the English Colonists, and later a more collective term “Pennsylvania Dutch”. However, the Amish (and also the Mennonite) people, called the “plain people”, are quite different from the rest of the Pennsylvania Dutch people, called the “fancy people”. The plain people adhere to strict religious beliefs and austere dress. Some of the communities only use four colors in their life, which are considered natural, white (cloud), blue (sky), brown (dirt), and green (plants). The fancy people introduced their form of folk art style to the local culture, including the barnstar.
Originally, the barnstars were meant to represent the mark of the builder. Later the symbol becames more frequently used for decoration and considered a good sign for the farmers. The star-in-circle form evolves into what is nowadays called “hex sign”. The misconception between the Amish and the barnstar/hex sign is driven by commercial purposes to a degree. Again, the Amish do not use the hex signs.
References: