The history of birthstones goes back over 2000 years. One of the earliest recorded references came in the description of Aaron’s breastplate in the bible and many other texts. The tribes of Israel each had a stone, which the tribe identified with. And if you wore one of these stones people knew that you were from a particular tribe. For instance the Eliat stone represented a tribe from what is now in southern Israel there is even a region that is called Eliat and, yes that is where these stones were and are mined today. In Aaron’s time the twelve tribes were united and on Aarons breastplate (or armor) he wore a stone symbolizing each tribe. It signified that he not only represented, but also had the backing of all the twelve tribes. With twelve months in the year there was a translation over time to let each stone also represent a month, and if you wore that stone it signified that you were born in that month. At one time everyone knew what month the stones were related to and if you wore that stone it signified that you were born in that month.
As one can also guess, when astrology began to thrive The Mystical Birthstone arose from Tibetan origin. There were mystical powers attributed to gemstones. For instance it was thought if you wore an amethyst, that regardless how much you drank, it would protect you from drunkenness. (This could catch on again today in some sectors.) This then morphed into each astrological sign having it’s own stone. Even today there is an astrological gemstone list, which follows astrological dates, and does not exactly match a normal calendar list. This list is referred to the The Star Sign stone list.
Over a thousand years ago in India, another list sprang up which is the Ayurvedcic Indian Medicine. Not only were gemstones given mystical powers they were given medicinal powers. Some were ground up and actually ingested. Some were worn on the body and some were only passed over the body to get the effect. We have the remnants of this following in amulets today
The Modern Birthstone list contains the official birthstone list from the American National Association of Jewelers, Jewelers of America. These gemstones were officially adopted in 1912. In the US, this is the accepted list today, well sort of. Even this list has been changed because some of the original stones are no longer available. Some of the “Original” stones were opaque and didn’t match well with faceted stones so they were changed. Even as late as five years ago rose zircon, which was the October birthstone, has “migrated” to pink tourmaline because for all practical purposes rose zircon is not available anymore. There is also an alternate list, which includes primarily opaque gemstones.
One of my favorite things is when someone comes in and says, “I don’t like my birthstone” All I have to do is bring out a high quality natural one and they will say, “Oh but I do like that. Is that really my birth stone?” People are accustomed to seeing lower quality or synthetic replicas of their birthstone. When they are presented with a fine quality example, like those from which their birthstone originally received it’s named and reputation, they are amazed at how beautiful their birthstone truly is.
Taking all the lists with a health dose of technology and science, the birth stone list today reduced back to simply a birthstone list for most people. Your birthstone is something you can be proud of and wear with great pride. After all it has a very long and world wide heritage.
