BIRTHSTONES AND THEIR MEANING

Most dictionaries would define a birthstone to be a precious or semi-precious stone that is supposed to be worn by a person born within a certain month, and is believed to be lucky. It is still relatively popular to buy jewelry designs that feature such stones as a birthday gift for somebody special. 

A notion that a gemstone symbolizes a virtue or certain time of the year has been around for a while. In fact, people sought to associate a certain period or month of the year with an item commonly found in nature since ancient times. Flowers and gemstones have been particularly popular choices for such a representation. One of the main reasons for their popularity when it comes to this kind of symbolism is the number of different shapes and colors that they can come in.

Historians can find references to gemstone symbolism in civilizations as ancient as the Roman Empire. However, it is the bible that provides us with the most notable proof of such an early practice of gemstone symbolism with the account of Breastplate of Aaron. 

It is written in the bible that twelve different gemstones were to be embedded in the front part of this ceremonial breastplate with the purpose of representing twelve different tribes of Israel. It is commonly believed that the practice of associating gemstones with twelve different months of the year eventually evolved from that event.

The birthstone list used in the West was constantly changing throughout the ages, and the birthstone list as we know it today here in United States was put together by a nationwide association of jewelry retailers called Jewelers of America in the year of 1912. 

Prior to this standardization, the birthstone list varied greatly from jeweler to jeweler. A great amount of stones from the old list found their place on the new one as well. 

It must be noted that the birthstone charts of Eastern origin (e.g. Mystical and Ayurvedic) are drastically different than their Western counterparts. For example, Peridot is a birthstone for the month of October according to our modern birthstone chart while the Ayurvedic birthstone list tells us that Opal is the stone that in fact represents that month.

Here is the complete modern birthstone list:

Please note that several months (e.g. June, October, November and December) are represented by several stones. In such a case, one should feel free to choose any appropriately listed stone as one stone is not deemed to be more important than the other. 

When it comes to pearls, it must be noted that they can come in a number of other colors than white as well. However, one should preferably choose the pearls of white color when buying them as birthstone(s) for the month of June. 

Finally, it is important to recognize that the list is not static, and that it evolves as newly found gemstones gain popularity. Such is the case of the spectacular Tanzanite, a newly found gemstone that got adopted only very recently as a birthstone for December.
 

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