Looking At Pearls Throughthe Lens Of History

By Author: Alan Smith
Total Articles: 21
Comment this article

If you are stepping out for a fancy dinner or a special occasion, you would look great wearing a classic pearl strand. You may even wear a lovely ring for a formal meeting as a statement piece of your outfit. Young girls are seen wearing studs of these shiny beads on their ears to enhance their overall look. Wearing pearls has been fashionable for centuries; the use of these beads dates back to 520 BC. Let’s learn a little about how these lovely beads were used in history.

Since the beginning, these beads have been symbolizing immaculate perfection. These are a few of the oldest known beads and they were of utmost value a few centuries ago. A fragment of the oldest known jewelry made of these beads, found in the sarcophagus of a Persian princess, is displayed in the Louvre in Paris. In fact, in those times, these beads were considered to be the symbol of the moon and a source of magical powers. In classical Rome, only people who used to be at a high military rank were allowed to wear pearl jewelry.

It has also long been considered an ideal wedding ...
... gift because it symbolizes purity and innocence. In the Hindu religion, the presentation of an undrilled bead and its piercing has formed part of traditional marriage ceremony.

The language of Latin defines the word ‘pearl’ as unique, attesting to the fact that no two beads are identical. In most other languages like Spanish and French, this word is synonymous with margarita, which means fresh or beautiful. This word appeared in the English language only in the beginning of the fourteenth century.

These beads were very fashionable in Europe in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as personal ornaments. The clothing of both affluent men and women were embroidered with them. There were even laws regarding wearing these beads. For example, based on earnings, teachers and lawyers could not wear fringes or chains made from these drops.

In the Americas, both the Incas and the Aztecs prized these beads for their beauty and magical powers. Spanish explorers of the new world found the natives in possession of rich areas full of pearl oysters. For many years, the new world was best known in European cities such as Seville and Cadiz as the land where pearls came from.

Native Americans of the Atlantic Coast and the Mississippi River Basin were the first to collect and use U.S. freshwater mussel beads. Pendants and earrings were worn by both sexes and these lovely, round beads were used for decorative purposes on articles of clothing. Some of the tribes used them as tributes. In fact, the heroes or prominent people of the tribes received large stores of these beads as a tribute.

Long known as the ‘Queen of Gems,’ pearls possess a history and allure far beyond what today's wearer may recognize. If you look in the market today, you may find a host of different colors and shapes of these beads to match your requirement.