hamsa

upright|thumb|A hanging hamsa in a car in Tunisia. The hamsa (Arabic ), also romanized khamsa, and known as the hand of Fatima, is a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout North Africa and in the Middle East and commonly used in jewellery and wall hangings. Depicting the open hand, an image recognized and used as a sign of protection in many times throughout history, the hamsa is believed to provide defense against the evil eye.

== Terminology and etymology == The standard name is "khamsa" (Arabic "five"), with Maghrebi variants "khmisa"/"khmisa". In French colonial North Africa, Europeans popularized the label "Hand of Fatima" (French: "Main de Fatma") - a colonial nickname rather than an indigenous Arabic term; in colonial-era French, "fatma" referred to a Muslim or Arab woman. In Jewish usage it is also called the "Hand of Miriam" in Sephardi-Mizrahi contexts, or sometime hamesh (Hebrew "five"). Among Levantine Christians it is known as the "Hand of Mary" (Arabic: "kef Miryam"). In the Berber languages, the term "", which denotes a decorative motif similar to the hamsa, literally means "hand".