Throughout Sicily you’ll see these large ceramic busts of kings, queens, and more common, Moors. It’s a popular decoration seen on terraces and garden balconies, or topping gate-pillars. The owners fill the majolica vases with basil, flowers, or other plants. Personally, I’ve found them to be creepy because, it is exactly what it looks like: a decapitated head.
Legend is that a stunning young woman in the Kalsa district of Palermo back in the 10th or 11th century each day carefully attended to the basil and flowers on her balcony. A Moorish man took a liking to her, greeting and flirting with her each day as he passed on the street below.
At first, the virtuous woman resisted, but eventually, she fell for the Moor, and the two became lovers. Then one fateful day, the man confessed he had to leave Sicily to return to his homeland to care for his wife and children.
Needless to say, this news was not well received, and during what was to be their romantic, final night together, while the Moor slept, the young woman took a sword … and well, the next day she made a vase out of his head and placed it on her balcony.
In her grief for losing her love and for what she’d done, she proceeded to cry into the Moor’s head. After some days, the woman’s basil and flowers never bloomed so vibrantly. Her neighbors took notice, thinking it must be that new ceramic pot she possessed! Wanting their flowers to follow suit, they went to their local ceramicist, requesting a similar majolica pot. And so the tradition of the Moor’s head pot was born. To compliment it, a woman’s pot was created. The two now are always presented together.
Important to note is basil’s presence in this story. Basil as an herb is used to protect a home (Therefore, put it on your balcony!), purifying the air from evil energy and spirits. In some cultures, it is also a symbol of love washed with regret. In Italian folklore, however, it commonly represents passionate love. It is believed that if a woman wants a man to fall for her, she should give him basil.
