Hexagram facts for kids

A hexagram, a six-pointed star

A hexagram is a special shape that looks like a six-pointed star. All its lines are the same length, and all its angles are the same. You might also hear it called a 'hexangle', 'star hexagon', or 'hexalpha'.

This star shape has been used for a very long time in different cultures and religions around the world. For example, you can find it in Judaism, Hinduism, and in some historical and cultural designs. It's possible that different people, without knowing each other, created this simple shape, just like they did with triangles, circles, or squares.

How to Draw a Hexagram with a Compass

You can draw a six-pointed star, like a regular hexagon, using just a compass and a straight edge. Here's how:

• First, use your compass to draw a circle of any size.
• Next, without changing the compass's size, place its pointy end anywhere on the edge of the circle you just drew.
• Draw a small arc that crosses your first circle in two places. Pick one of these new crossing points.
• Move the pointy end of your compass to this new crossing point. Draw another small arc that crosses the first circle again.
• Keep doing this until you have marked six points all around the edge of your first circle.
• Finally, use your straight edge to connect every other point on the circle. You will draw two equilateral triangles that overlap each other. When they overlap, they form the hexagram!

Images for kids

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  This picture shows a regular hexagram. You can see it as two equilateral triangles overlapping. One triangle faces up (blue), and the other faces down (pink). Where they cross, they form a regular hexagon (green).

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  The Star of David on the Salt Lake Assembly Hall building.

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  The Star of David in the Leningrad Codex, a very old book from 1008.

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  A diagram showing two special symbols, Om and Hrim.

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  A double hexagram on a grave marker.

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  An aerial photo of Heathrow Airport in London from 1955, showing its shape.

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  The canopy over platform 2 at Worthing railway station.

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  A coin from the Emirate of Sicily made during the time of Al-Mustansir Billah in the 11th century.

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  A coin from 1204 made in Aleppo by Az-Zahir Ghazi.

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  A hexagram at Humayun's Tomb in Delhi, India, from the late 16th century.

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  A hexagram on a Moroccan 4 Falus coin from 1873.

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  A hexagram on the Minaret of Arasta Mosque in Prizren, Kosovo.

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  A horse cover from Morocco with embroidery.

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  The gates from the tomb of Mahmud of Ghazni.

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  A Chinese Muslim cotton banner with Arabic writing and hexagrams, from the late 1700s or 1800s.

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  A mathematical diagram that shows a hexagram shape.

See also

In Spanish: Hexagrama para niños