Diamonds, Opals and Emeralds

Here is yet another in the series of old wives tales articles I am putting up for your amusement. Can you believe there are so many of them? You can believe that there are old wives tales on every subject imaginable. This one will deal with old wives tales about jewels and jewelry.

In the middle ages people actually believed that wearing jewelry prevented evil spirits from entering the body by one of the five orifices. That is right folks the wearing earrings and painting the lips were talismans to keep devils away. We all have seen those people with too much jewelry and make up, are the believers in this old wives tale?

Now specific jewels were believed to do specific things back in the middle ages. I wonder how many of these still hold true today.

Emeralds considered unlucky back then because were used in the Far East for the eyes of religious figures and as a result became the target of robbers. I guess emeralds have always had some value even then.

Opals were also considered unlucky generally; although 13th century alchemist Magnus totally believed that an opal wrapped in bay leaves made its wearer invisible. How many times would be invisibility come in handy within your life? This does make me wonder just how many times someone actually tried this one.

Pearls were believed to be unlucky; in medieval times, they were thought to be tears, which became solid. In modern times, we know where pearls come from and I am just wondering if the ancient people thought the tears came from oysters or people.

Diamonds have always been considered good luck jewels. Diamonds were the best of all good luck bringers or talisman. Ancient people believed the diamond possessed the power to drive off witches and other types of evil doings. Not only that, but they also believed that wearing a diamond prevented the wearer from going insane.

Now in modern times how many of us young girls have made a wish when the clasp of our necklace had traveled from the back of our necks to the front? This is a hold over from ancient times, but it is still an old wives tale. It is still fun thing to do nonetheless, after all everyone wants to believe that we can get extra luck.

There is so much 'power' given to these beliefs, and most of it is unjustified. Some of them make our day a bit brighter, which is always a good thing. It is always fun to pass these along, unless someone takes us literally.

I hope you have enjoyed these little gems, consider it a blast from the past.