THE LEGEND OF SICILIAN MOOR’S HEADS

The legend says that during the the time of the Moor domination in Sicily, there lived a beautiful girl in the Arab quarter Kalsa (in the heart of Palermo) who loved to take care of plants on her balcony. One day she was noticed by a Moor who fell in love with her. The man told her of his feelings and the two were overwhelmed by desire. When the girl found out that her lover would soon travel back to the East, where a wife and children were waiting for him, the ‘green-eyed monster’ possessed her.

Mad with jealousy, feeling humiliated by the betrayal, the girl killed the Moor while he was asleep. In a fit of incredible violence, she cut off his head and used it as a vase in which she planted a bud of basil. The girl watered the plant with her tears and, as time went by, the basil grew luxuriantly. The heady scent of the King’s plant (from the Greek Basilikos) caused the envy of the girl’s neighbours, who immediately ordered ceramic vases with the same features as the Moor’s Head. That’s how the beautiful girl started a tradition that is still in use.

According to another story, the Moor’s Heads represent the impossible love of a young couple. The girl was Sicilian and had noble origins, while her lover was a young Arab. When their love affair was discovered, her family cruelly punished them both by beheading them.

Their heads were then turned into vases and hung as warnings on a balcony. This is why the ceramic heads are always made in pairs, in memory of the two young lovers who were murdered together.

Now that you know the legends of the Moor’s heads, you shall succumb to the temptation of having a pair. Your choice, your style. They can be bought everywhere in Sicily and in many different variations, in bright colours or in a single colour (white or black).