The Human Fascination Of Adorning Themselves With Jewelry Goes Back Farther Than You Think

Throughout the ages we have enhanced our appearance. Cleopatra darkened her lashes with lamp soot. Men used to wear powdered white wigs and women wore whatever wig was in fashion. We put necklaces around our necks, earrings in our ears and rings on our fingers.

We tattoo our skin and paint our nails. Some jewelry represents the love for our spouses like a wedding band and others represent the love for our children, like a mother's ring containing the birthstones of her offspring. Men wear tie clips and fraternity rings and watches that represent their status. Kings wore crowns and their Queens did as well. Wherever you go, take a look around and you will see that majority of people around you are wearing some type of decoration.

This is not a recent trend. While no one can say with any real certainty when and where it all began, there has been jewelry found in graves as old as 40,000 years. These were made of shells and bones and there is a theory that our ancestors wore these adornments as charms to ward off evil spirits or attract good ones.

They might have pierced themselves with the bones or made necklaces from the shells. As the belief in the afterlife developed, so did the belief in good and evil. The earliest form of tattoos and makeup originated when people began to paint their bodies with red ochre and lining their eyes with kohl. This was supposed to ward off the "evil eye" and keep people safe.

During earlier parts of our history, it was common to wear a charm to attract a mate or to conceive a child. Some wore charms to attract money to a household or to bring in a good crop to feed the family. Sailors wore charms to protect them at sea and soldiers did the same to protect them in battle. Children still look up at the stars and make a wish on the first one that they see.

Today, the fascination with charms and amulets continue. People still wear religious amulets and symbols like a Star of David, a Christian cross or Pagan pentacle. They wear symbols of the zodiac and symbols representing peace. Some people still carry a rabbit's foot for luck or will bend down to pick up a penny to keep as another form of a lucky charm. Women wear lockets that have pictures of their loved ones and many men walk out the door in the morning wearing their lucky tie.

As time goes on, the use of charms or rituals to bring luck is sure to continue. Even the grocery stores sell lucky candles to help win the lottery. There are also personal symbols that people carry that might not have any meaning to anyone else who sees them but carries hope for luck, peace and blessing for the one who is wearing it. Of course, some of the most popular jewelry is that which contains diamonds. If you are a man buying a gift for a woman, you will never go wrong with diamonds.

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