Seeing Stars

Those who are familiar with Da Vinci Code (either the book or film version) should recognize the Star of David, which is featured prominently in the plot:


The star is explained to be a combination of the male symbol, which is the upright triangle -- a crude phallus. (What is a phallus?)

And the female symbol, which is the inverted triangle -- the womb. (I'm not from around Earth. What is a womb?)


This "two overlapping triangles" method is the easiest way to draw a star. We learnt this in kindergarten.


However, if you're asked to draw a star now, you most probably will not draw it like the above. The most common form of star that we see, looks like this:


Now, observe that this star is not formed by the overlapping of two triangles. Neither can you ever draw two triangles inside this shape. Instead, you would get this:


And this:


Notice from the first picture, that the female symbol is still there. The inverted triangle. Here it is again:

Yup, it's there alright. But the second picture doesn't give the male symbol! What in the world could this mean?

Give it some thought, however, and you'd realize that this is a very common symbol which you see everyday, and means the same thing anywhere in the world.

.

.

.

This is it!