Wearing Charms and Charm Bracelets – a History
For many centuries men, women and even children have been wearing charms as talismans to protect them from evil or for good luck and riches. The use of charms on bracelets appears to have begun in ancient Egypt where the people used them as signs of their faith and to carry with them to the afterlife so that the gods would name them and assign them their appropriate status.
The early Christians in Rome wore a charm fashioned in the form of a fish to identify themselves to each other. During the Dark Ages, charms were used for political or religious identification and to indicate the family of the bearer. Knights in the Middle Ages carried them to protect themselves in combat and the common people also wore charms. During the Renaissance their use declined, principally by the more affluent classes, as people became better educated and much less prone to be superstitious. In spite of this the less knowledgeable poorer classes still believed in charms as protection against evil and to give them luck.
The wearing of charms was revitalized in the United Kingdom by Queen Victoria who wore a silver charm bracelet with lockets containing images of her family. This had a big impact on the wearing of charm bracelets by the people who began to wear them, not as talismans, but as decorative items. Family crests. glass beads and lockets became the fashion of the day. Subsequent to the end of World War 2 there was a huge outburst of charm wearing as soldiers brought home ornaments and beads to their sweetheart from far away regions of the world. Jewelers in the States continued the trend and began to make charms and gold charm jewelry. From that time the wearing of charm bracelets has continued to grow.
In the present day a broad assortment of pendants, earrings and charm bracelets are available with bracelets being the most well-liked. The precious metals, silver and gold, are ordinarily used though some people favor bracelets made from pearls or beads with gold or silver charms. Bracelets vary in price from below $100 to over 00 and are therefore within everyone's finances. There are numerous types of religious charms representing saints and a substantial array of charms depicting animals and objects including dolphins, rabbits, cupids, ballerina shoes etc.. One of the most fashionable are angel charms.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Tags:Afterlife,Ancient Egypt,charm bracelets,charm jewelry,Common People,Dark Ages,Early Christians,Family Crests,Fashion Of The Day,Glass Beads,Gold Charm,gold charm bracelets,gold charm jewelry,Knights In The Middle Ages,Outburst,Precious Metals,Queen Victoria,Regions Of The World,Silver And Gold,Silver Charm Bracelet,silver charm bracelets,silver charm jewelry. history of charms,Talismans,World War 2Related posts
Tags: Afterlife, Ancient Egypt, charm bracelets, charm jewelry, Common People, Dark Ages, Early Christians, Family Crests, Fashion Of The Day, Glass Beads, Gold Charm, gold charm bracelets, gold charm jewelry, Knights In The Middle Ages, Outburst, Precious Metals, Queen Victoria, Regions Of The World, Silver And Gold, Silver Charm Bracelet, silver charm bracelets, silver charm jewelry. history of charms, Talismans, World War 2
