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Zodiac stones
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Early civilizations such as India and Babylon have attributed gemstones with magical properties. Over time, astrologers assigned gems of certain colors to the twelve signs of the zodiac to help people influence the planets in their favor.
rthstone is a gift of a precious material (jewelry, mainly gemstones; themselves traditionally associated with various qualities) that symbolizes the month of birth in the Gregorian Calendar.
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Early civilizations such as India and Babylon have attributed gemstones with magical properties. Over time, astrologers assigned gems of certain colors to the twelve signs of the zodiac to help people influence the planets in their favor.
Birthstones
A birthstone is a gift of a precious material (jewelry, mainly gemstones; themselves traditionally associated with various qualities) that symbolizes the month of birth in the Gregorian Calendar. It is sometimes also called birthday stone (cf. infra; but that word is, confusingly, sometimes used as a synonym for an anniversary gift, which is related to the recipient's age, that is, year of birth).
Traditional birthstones
Often combined with modern birthstone lists, traditional birthstones are older society-based birthstones. Since many different cultures had their own list, jewelers' lists are often inconsistent over what constitutes a traditional birthstone. The table below contains many stones which are popular choices, often reflecting Polish tradition.
The Gregorian calendar has poems matching each month with its birthstone. These are traditionally the stones in English-speaking societies. It is not known whether these verses below are of the originally Gregorian calendar or not. In fact Tiffany & Co. published these poems "of unknown author" for the first time in a pamphlet in 1870.
Three of the verses are repeats,
Modern birthstones
In 1912, in an effort to standardize them, the American national association of jewelers, Jewelers of America, officially adopted a list, shown in the "Modern" column in the table below. It is currently the most widely used list in the United States and many other locations, including Australia and Thailand. Some alternates have been adopted to be a less expensive substitute for a cut stone. Tanzanite was added to December by the American Gem Trade Association in 2002. Most organizations do not recognize tanzanite as a December birthstone, however, as lists of birthstones continue to be published that do not list it. AGTA's move to make it a December birthstone has generally been viewed as a marketing technique. This hasn't been limited to tanzanite, however -- some birthstone lists incorrectly give blue topaz as being a birthstone for December. Some stores will simply list a blue stone for December, as a substitute, or a pink stone for October and call it "rose zircon". Still others give May's birthstone as the "shamrock spinel", when in reality, spinel does not occur green naturally.
Mystical birthstones
Mystical Birthstones are of Tibetan origin and date back over a thousand years.
Ayurvedic birthstones
The Ayurvedic birthstone list is from the ancient Indian medicine and philosophy dating back to ancient India (1500 BC).
Birthstone lists
History of birthstones
The first century Jewish historian Josephus proclaimed a connection between the twelve stones in the Aaron's breastplate, the twelve months of the year and the twelve signs of the zodiac. The Breastplate of Aaron, referred to in Exodus 39:10-14:
- 10 Then they mounted four rows of precious stones on it. In the first row there was a ruby, a topaz and a beryl;
- 11 in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald;
- 12 in the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst;
- 13 in the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper. They were mounted in gold filigree settings.
- 14 There were twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.
The precise list of birthstones however can be found in Revelation 21:19-20 where the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem are listed, in the order of the Roman calendar:
- 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. . .
- 19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
- 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
The custom of actually wearing birthstones first gained popularity in Poland in the fifteenth century. Tradition suggested everyone wear the birthstone for each month, since the powers of the gemstone were heightened during its month. For the fullest effect, indivuduals needed to own an entire set of twelve gemstones and rotate them monthly.
Birthday stones
While this word has also been used as synonym of Birth stone (see above), there is a separate list of assignment according to the day of the week of the recipient's birth:
Birth flowers
Just as there are alternatives with birthstones, there are also alternatives with birth flowers. For example, October is often listed as calendula (marigold) , but is also occasionally noted as being rose or camellia.
See also
External links
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