So while talking to a friend they mentioned "hey Enigma, do you know your birthstone?" and my first answer was "is that even a thing?" and after some talk I got curious and here we are 😊 welcome to
What even is a Birthstone?
A birthstone is a gemstone that represents a person's birth month and they each hold a unique meaning behind them, kind of like signs. For the curious — my birthstone is a Ruby.
Here are the 12 birthstones:
Garnet (January): This beautiful dark red (sometimes orange, green, black and honey brown) stone symbolises trust and friendship. Some old dudes also believed this stone grants protection and used them during travels.
Amethyst (February): This absolute beauty of a stone (not biased at all) comes in different tones of violet and is used for many reasons. This beauty represents royalty, hope and strong relationships. It is also believed to give the wearer courage, a calmer mind and focus, which is cool.
Aquamarine (March): This stone, which is usually blue or cyan in color, represents serenity, boosting love, youth, good health and overall happiness. Many sailors used these stones to protect themselves from dangers and to remember their loved ones. So it's like an omni stone — it has everything.
Diamond (April):
This familiar yet expensive rock is the birthstone of April. They come in almost all colors of the rainbow and bring clarity and resilience to the wearer. It is also the symbol of everlasting love and used in marriages — though I'm not sure if it's really because it symbolises that or just to show off an expensive stone.
Emerald (May): I kept spelling this as "emrald" so it was hard to find pictures but I guess that's my fault. Anyway, this dark green stone promotes fertility, rebirth and love. Its beautiful green color inspires thoughts of springtime and renewal, signifying growth, patience and hope. It is also said to be Cleopatra's favorite — and Minecraft villagers'.
Pearl / Alexandrite (June): This month is a little different — we have two stones and it captures duality. Pearl embodies purity and intuition while alexandrite on the other hand represents adaptability and wit. Together these two symbolise emotional intelligence and versatility — quite an interesting concept.
Ruby (July): Hello to my birthstone. This stone is known for its bright red color. It also symbolises vitality, strength, passion, power, warmth and peace — and was also used by people to ward off evil.
Peridot (August): This bright greenish stone symbolises strength, positivity and healing energy. Also used as a ward against nightmares.
Sapphire (September): Mostly known for its blue color, this stone is believed to protect your loved ones from harm, bring success to the wearer and symbolises purity and faith.
Opal (October): October's favourite rock is apparently opal. This interesting rock is known for its play of colors and represents faithfulness and confidence with its colors of the rainbow. From what I have seen it can also be considered a "luck" stone. I think I need a dozen of these.
Topaz (November): Fun fact — before modern gemology all yellowish stones were considered topaz. Shocker. This pretender is associated with soothing, healing and rejuvenating and is also known as the gemstone of fortune and good luck. So I will need a dozen of topaz next to my opals.
Tanzanite (December): This difficult to determine birthstone with its elegant color represents wisdom, truth and dignity.
Some of you smart people may have noticed "hey Enigma, some months have different stones on the internet though?" and I can answer that. I know, but these are the ones I picked according to my own preference. Jokes aside, there are modern, traditional and sign related charts so I kinda mixed them up a little. Now that everybody knows their stone, let's talk about the history behind them a little.
HİSTORY
The origin of "birthstones" goes all the way back to biblical history. It's said that in the Book of Exodus, Moses' brother Aaron wore a sacred breastplate containing twelve gemstones, each representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The first academic research on it was carried out by Roman scholar Titus Flavius Josephus around 37-100AD. [History of Birthstones - International Gem Society]
But I'm not sure that those 12 gemstones they were talking about were really the birthstones we know today.
But for the connection to the months, I have found that around the 1st century, Josephus believed there was a connection between the 12 stones in Aaron's breastplate, the 12 months of the year, and the 12 zodiac signs. By the 8th and 9th centuries people would own all twelve gems but only wear a single stone during a given month, believing it had heightened powers during that time. [1]
So it was either the 12 zodiac signs or the 12 stones. The modern tradition of wearing one stone for your birth month did not begin until the 16th century and originated in either Germany or Poland. [2]
After reading this we can kinda say it was probably inspired by zodiac signs, because zodiac studies go wayyyyyy further back than birthstones — zodiac signs being roughly 3,500 years old while the birthstones we know today are barely 100.
The term "your month, your birthstone" started in the 16th century and originated in either Germany or Poland as some sources say.
But as I said, there are so many versions of this chart and different countries had different beliefs, and nobody could settle on one final version. So in 1912 the American National Jewelers' Association compiled a standardized birthstone list. Basically jewelers got tired of the confusion and just decided for everyone. Very convenient for selling gems. The list was modified in 1952 adding alexandrite to June, citrine to November, pink tourmaline to October and zircon to December. In 2002 tanzanite was added to December and in 2016 spinel was added to August.[1]
So their origin goes waayyy back but the term "birthstone" is a newer concept when compared to zodiac signs.
Are they even relevant like signs?
Well, scientifically no. But the feeling of "this is my month's birthstone, wow!" is cool and comforting to people and that actually matters more than we think. But we can also say that these things are socially constructed and used by companies to sell us gemstones more easily — but at this point, pick your side.
My personal thoughts
For me the concept of birthstones is very unique and cool and unlike signs it's actually a physical thing to have. I also really like some of these stones myself as I said about amethyst but other than that I don't think they have these "buffs" as some people mentioned but a few people that I know say they actually do have some effects on them. For example a friend of mine swears her amethyst keeps her calmer and honestly who am I to argue. But in conclusion I think these gemstones are quite cool and nice to have around and also make great gifts. And I guess that answers my friend's question. There you go dude, now I know what birthstones are xd.
