Herrnhut star
Herrnhuter SternCraftFirst stars in Moravian Church schools…
The Herrnhut star is the 25-pointed paper star that Herrnhuter Sterne GmbH makes by hand in Herrnhut in Upper Lusatia, and a visit to its manufactory suits anyone who wants to see the original being folded and assembled. "Herrnhuter Stern" is a registered German mark held by that company, so a many-pointed star from another maker goes by Moravian-style star.
Visiting with care
- The star began in the Moravian Church, and the company explains the first stars' white as purity and their red as the blood of Christ. Where a star hangs in a church or prayer hall, treat it as part of that congregation's worship.
Where to see Herrnhut star
In the company's account, the first stars of paper and card hung early in the 19th century in the boarding rooms of the Moravian Church's schools, where an educator had pupils build one from geometric shapes in a mathematics lesson. The first stars were white and red, and the children made them on the first Sunday of Advent and took the custom home to their families.
A note by Georg Friedrich Bahnsohn, kept in the Moravian archive in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, puts a star in the Niesky Brüderhaus by Christmas 1820 and credits the Herrnhut craftsman Christian Madsen (1800–1879), who lived in the Brüderhaus. The Volksstimme reported the find in 2013, and until then the earliest known star was one that hung in the courtyard of the Moravian boys' school in Niesky in January 1821.
The star as a product starts with Pieter Hendrik Verbeek (1863–1935), who dealt in books and music in Herrnhut. The company dates his first stable star that a buyer could put together to 1897, and some sources give 1894. In 1925 Verbeek patented a star with no separate body to hold the points, and the Stern-Gesellschaft mbH Herrnhut was founded with the Moravian Church's mission institution and the trading house Abraham Dürninger & Co. among its partners. That star has 17 square and 8 triangular points, 25 in all, and the firm still makes it that way.
The business was nationalized in 1950 and ran from 1951 as a state-owned star and lampshade works, and the Moravian Church later got it back. Today's Herrnhuter Sterne GmbH was founded in 1991 with 23 staff. Since 2010 the manufactory on Oderwitzer Straße has put production and a show workshop under one roof. The German Patent and Trade Mark Office lists Herrnhuter Stern as a registered word and figurative mark under DE302012005113.
Worth knowing
- Plan Herrnhut around the manufactory's show workshop, where you can watch the points being glued and the stars assembled. The manufactory page carries this season's hours.
- Call a star from another maker a Moravian-style or many-pointed paper star. Herrnhuter Stern is the company's registered mark.
Quick answers about Herrnhut star
Who makes the Herrnhut star?
Herrnhuter Sterne GmbH makes the Herrnhut star in its manufactory at Oderwitzer Straße 8 in Herrnhut, Saxony. The company holds the registered German mark Herrnhuter Stern (DE302012005113).
How many points does a Herrnhut star have?
A Herrnhut star has 25 points: 17 square and 8 triangular. Pieter Hendrik Verbeek fixed that form when he patented the star in 1925.
Who invented the Herrnhut star?
The sources disagree. The company credits an unnamed educator at a Moravian boarding school who used the star in a geometry lesson early in the 19th century, and a diary found in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania names the Herrnhut craftsman Christian Madsen, with a star in Niesky by Christmas 1820.
How should you behave at Herrnhut star?
At Herrnhut star: The star began in the Moravian Church, and the company explains the first stars' white as purity and their red as the blood of Christ. Where a star hangs in a church or prayer hall, treat it as part of that congregation's worship.