{
 "schema": 1,
 "id": "open-palm",
 "type": "motif",
 "names": {
  "name": "The open palm",
  "native": "خمسة",
  "script": "Arabic",
  "lang": "ar",
  "said": "KHAM-sa, Arabic for five",
  "aliases": [
   "khamsa",
   "khmisa",
   "hand of Fatima",
   "hand of Miriam",
   "hand of Mary",
   "afus",
   "Mano Pantea"
  ]
 },
 "region": [
  "maghreb",
  "levant",
  "iberia",
  "anatolia",
  "diaspora"
 ],
 "countries": [
  "MA",
  "DZ",
  "TN",
  "LY",
  "EG",
  "IL",
  "PS",
  "SY",
  "TR",
  "ES"
 ],
 "facets": {
  "era": "ancient",
  "family": "hand",
  "hemisphere": [
   "N",
   "E"
  ]
 },
 "text": {
  "what": "A flat hand, palm forward, five fingers spread and usually symmetrical — the two outer fingers drawn as thumbs so the sign reads the same either way up. Cast in silver or brass, cut in gold, pressed in glass. An eye is often set in the middle of the palm. It hangs at a neck, over a door and off a mirror from Morocco to Iraq.",
  "story": "Five is the count and the name. The standard Arabic term is khamsa, five, with Maghrebi khmisa beside it. Hand of Fatima is a French colonial nickname, popularised by Europeans in North Africa rather than used in Arabic; in colonial-era French, fatma meant a Muslim or Arab woman. Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews say hand of Miriam. Levantine Christians say kef Miryam, hand of Mary. Berber afus just means hand.\n\nInside the Islamic world the amulet's documented use sits in the west — the Maghreb and historic al-Andalus — and is sparse in the Mashriq, where a hand in ritual use more often belongs to Shi'i iconography and not to this tradition. Von Kemnitz traces the route: Berbers brought the khamsa to al-Andalus; the expelled Muslim and Jewish population carried it back to North Africa with new motifs and techniques. In al-Andalus its use as an amulet is well documented from the thirteenth century.\n\nThe sign has an Egyptian claimant too. One account connects the khamsa with the Mano Pantea, an amulet Egyptians knew as the Two Fingers, where the two fingers stand for Isis and Osiris and the thumb for their child Horus, invoking a parent's protection over a child. *Inference —* that is a theory of origin, offered as one among several, and this atlas prints it as a theory.\n\nIn Jewish use the hand doubles as the letter shin, first letter of Shaddai, a name of God — one sign carrying two readings at once. It decorates ketubot and Torah pointers. It largely dropped out of Ashkenazi use by the mid-twentieth century and stayed in Sephardi and Mizrahi practice throughout.",
  "today": "Sold everywhere on the Mediterranean rim and online, in silver, in enamel, on phone cases and on keyrings, worn by people with no tie to any of the five naming communities. Whether a mass-produced khamsa is the same object as a Moroccan silversmith's is an argument with named people on both sides; this atlas reports it and does not settle it."
 },
 "kin": [
  {
   "to": "hamsa",
   "as": "the amulet itself — this record is the sign, that record is the object in the tray",
   "rel": "carried-by"
  },
  {
   "to": "hand",
   "as": "the wider family of hand signs, of which this is the open posture",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "to": "eye",
   "as": "the sign set in this palm more often than any other",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "fist",
   "as": "the other hand, closed and obscene, aimed at the same harm",
   "rel": "contrast"
  },
  {
   "to": "divine-name",
   "as": "in Jewish use the palm reads as the letter shin, for Shaddai — a hand that is also a name",
   "rel": "parallel"
  },
  {
   "to": "nazar",
   "as": "the bead it is most often sold with, and often set with",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "silver",
   "as": "the metal the Maghreb casts it in",
   "rel": "material"
  }
 ],
 "dating": {
  "period": "Iron Age to the present",
  "from_year": -799,
  "to_year": null,
  "living": true,
  "label": "c. 800 BCE to now, and well documented from the 13th century CE",
  "method": "excavated",
  "circa": true,
  "tier": "cited",
  "source": "s:wp-hamsa",
  "note": "Earliest appearance dated from Israelite tombs of around 800 BCE; the continuous documented amulet tradition in al-Andalus starts in the 13th century."
 },
 "object": {
  "form": "pendant",
  "materials": [
   "silver",
   "gold",
   "brass",
   "glass"
  ],
  "worn": [
   "neck",
   "door",
   "wall",
   "vehicle"
  ],
  "inscription": "Qur'anic verses or phrases drawn from the Qur'an on Morisco examples",
  "count": 5,
  "source": "s:wp-hamsa"
 },
 "against": [
  {
   "harm": "evil-eye",
   "who": "carriers across North Africa and the Middle East",
   "source": "s:wp-hamsa",
   "tier": "cited"
  },
  {
   "harm": "infertility",
   "who": "the Hand-of-Venus and Hand-of-Mary names, attached to hand amulets said to protect women, help lactation and strengthen a pregnancy",
   "source": "s:wp-hamsa",
   "tier": "cited"
  },
  {
   "harm": "child-harm",
   "who": "the Mano Pantea reading, in which the sign calls a child's parents to protect it",
   "source": "s:wp-hamsa",
   "tier": "cited"
  }
 ],
 "links": [
  {
   "label": "Hamsa — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamsa"
  }
 ],
 "sources": [
  "s:wp-hamsa",
  "s:wp-evil-eye",
  "s:wp-islam-and-magic",
  "s:wp-kabbalah"
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "default": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-hamsa"
  },
  "fields": {
   "text.today": {
    "tier": "inference",
    "note": "the present-day market is reasoned from the object's ubiquity; no market survey was read"
   }
  }
 },
 "images": [],
 "x_commons_files": [
  "File:Hamsa.svg",
  "File:Main de Fatma.jpg"
 ],
 "confidence": "high",
 "updated": "2026-09-16",
 "blurb": "A flat hand, palm forward, five fingers spread and usually symmetrical — the two outer fingers drawn as thumbs so the sign reads the same either way up. Cast in silver or brass, cut in gold, pressed in glass.",
 "region_terms": [
  {
   "key": "maghreb",
   "name": "The Maghreb",
   "hemi": [
    "N",
    "E"
   ],
   "note": "Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya"
  },
  {
   "key": "levant",
   "name": "The Levant",
   "hemi": [
    "N",
    "E"
   ]
  },
  {
   "key": "iberia",
   "name": "Iberia",
   "hemi": [
    "N",
    "W"
   ]
  },
  {
   "key": "anatolia",
   "name": "Anatolia",
   "hemi": [
    "N",
    "E"
   ]
  },
  {
   "key": "diaspora",
   "name": "Diaspora",
   "hemi": [
    "N",
    "S",
    "E",
    "W"
   ],
   "note": "a practice carried out of its home region and kept"
  }
 ],
 "hemispheres": [
  "E",
  "N",
  "S",
  "W"
 ],
 "kin_out": [
  {
   "to": "hamsa",
   "type": "amulet",
   "name": "Hamsa",
   "as": "the amulet itself — this record is the sign, that record is the object in the tray",
   "rel": "carried-by"
  },
  {
   "to": "hand",
   "type": "motif",
   "name": "The hand",
   "as": "the wider family of hand signs, of which this is the open posture",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "to": "eye",
   "type": "motif",
   "name": "The eye",
   "as": "the sign set in this palm more often than any other",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "fist",
   "type": "motif",
   "name": "The fig fist",
   "as": "the other hand, closed and obscene, aimed at the same harm",
   "rel": "contrast"
  },
  {
   "to": "divine-name",
   "type": "motif",
   "name": "The name",
   "as": "in Jewish use the palm reads as the letter shin, for Shaddai — a hand that is also a name",
   "rel": "parallel"
  },
  {
   "to": "nazar",
   "type": "amulet",
   "name": "Nazar",
   "as": "the bead it is most often sold with, and often set with",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "silver",
   "type": "material",
   "name": "Silver",
   "as": "the metal the Maghreb casts it in",
   "rel": "material"
  }
 ],
 "source_list": [
  {
   "id": "s:wp-hamsa",
   "kind": "encyclopedia",
   "title": "Hamsa",
   "publisher": "Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamsa",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-evil-eye",
   "kind": "encyclopedia",
   "title": "Evil eye",
   "publisher": "Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_eye",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-islam-and-magic",
   "kind": "encyclopedia",
   "title": "Islam and magic",
   "publisher": "Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_magic",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-kabbalah",
   "kind": "encyclopedia",
   "title": "Kabbalah",
   "publisher": "Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  }
 ],
 "tiers": {
  "text.what": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-hamsa"
  },
  "text.story": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-hamsa"
  },
  "text.today": {
   "tier": "inference",
   "note": "the present-day market is reasoned from the object's ubiquity; no market survey was read"
  },
  "dating": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-hamsa"
  },
  "object": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-hamsa"
  }
 },
 "primary_image": null,
 "tag_facts": [],
 "recognition_facts": [],
 "acclaim": 0,
 "against_facts": [
  {
   "key": "evil-eye",
   "label": "The evil eye",
   "gloss": "harm carried by a look, often an admiring one",
   "who": "carriers across North Africa and the Middle East",
   "quote": "",
   "source": "s:wp-hamsa",
   "tier": "cited",
   "note": ""
  },
  {
   "key": "infertility",
   "label": "Infertility",
   "who": "the Hand-of-Venus and Hand-of-Mary names, attached to hand amulets said to protect women, help lactation and strengthen a pregnancy",
   "quote": "",
   "source": "s:wp-hamsa",
   "tier": "cited",
   "note": ""
  },
  {
   "key": "child-harm",
   "label": "Harm to a child",
   "gloss": "harm to an infant or a small child; common across the atlas, though not the largest class in it — see /story/most-of-them-are-for-children/",
   "who": "the Mano Pantea reading, in which the sign calls a child's parents to protect it",
   "quote": "",
   "source": "s:wp-hamsa",
   "tier": "cited",
   "note": ""
  }
 ],
 "material_facts": [
  {
   "key": "silver",
   "label": "Silver",
   "kind": "metal"
  },
  {
   "key": "gold",
   "label": "Gold",
   "kind": "metal"
  },
  {
   "key": "brass",
   "label": "Brass",
   "kind": "metal"
  },
  {
   "key": "glass",
   "label": "Glass",
   "kind": "fired"
  }
 ],
 "worn_facts": [
  {
   "key": "neck",
   "label": "At the neck",
   "group": "body",
   "note": "the world's default position"
  },
  {
   "key": "door",
   "label": "At the door",
   "group": "placed"
  },
  {
   "key": "wall",
   "label": "On a wall",
   "group": "placed"
  },
  {
   "key": "vehicle",
   "label": "In a vehicle",
   "group": "placed"
  }
 ],
 "form_fact": {
  "key": "pendant",
  "label": "Pendant"
 },
 "holding_facts": [],
 "span": "800 BCE to now",
 "country_names": [
  {
   "iso": "MA",
   "name": "Morocco"
  },
  {
   "iso": "DZ",
   "name": "Algeria"
  },
  {
   "iso": "TN",
   "name": "Tunisia"
  },
  {
   "iso": "LY",
   "name": "Libya"
  },
  {
   "iso": "EG",
   "name": "Egypt"
  },
  {
   "iso": "IL",
   "name": "Israel"
  },
  {
   "iso": "PS",
   "name": "Palestine"
  },
  {
   "iso": "SY",
   "name": "Syria"
  },
  {
   "iso": "TR",
   "name": "Turkey"
  },
  {
   "iso": "ES",
   "name": "Spain"
  }
 ],
 "kin_in": [
  {
   "from": "hamsa",
   "type": "amulet",
   "name": "Hamsa",
   "as": "the gesture it freezes — right hand up, fingers slightly apart, aimed at the looker",
   "rel": "motif"
  },
  {
   "from": "fist",
   "type": "motif",
   "name": "The fig fist",
   "as": "the other hand, flat and public, aimed at the same harm from the opposite posture",
   "rel": "contrast"
  },
  {
   "from": "hand",
   "type": "motif",
   "name": "The hand",
   "as": "the flat five-fingered posture, and the one most of the world now buys",
   "rel": "parallel"
  },
  {
   "from": "hamsa-word",
   "type": "term",
   "name": "hamsa",
   "as": "the gesture inside the word — the raised palm of khamsa fi ainek",
   "rel": "motif"
  }
 ]
}