Are pearls bad luck?

[4ever]

Ok, I had never heard this before until my friend, who I gave a beautiful big set of fw studs for her 21st and recently gave her another pair of mine to wear because the peachy colour suits her far more than it does me, insisted on giving me money for them as to "buy" them off me and cancel out the bad luck

I have been gifted pearls, but I am not a supersitious person and I have heard of a lot of people who traditionally give pearls for a girls 21st or to babys but now I'm reading all this stuff about pearls being unlucky to wear on your wedding day. Huh? Where do these different ideas about pearls come from? Id be interested in hearing different cultural perspectives about this if anyone wants to share?

 

[that_someone_special]

I have never heard that.

 

[iLander]

Sounds like a bit of hooey to me . . .

 

[movie zombie]

never heard that....probably a rumor started by the diamond industry!

 

[kelpie]

I have never heard of pearls but I gifted my aunt a fire opal and you would have thought I gave her a week old trout. She was going on and on that only a few people can harness the powerful energy of opal in a positive way and the rest of the wearers have terrible health.

 

[Black Jade]

Some people think pearls represent or symbolize tears.
But others think pearls represent purity (as well as elegance and class).
I guess you can take your pick.
They have been traditional for wedding jewelry for a long time (I think even before pearls were cultured--Victorian brides would wear elaborate seed pearl necklaces). So I don't think too many people take the bad meaning seriously.
When I was young I was the only girl I knew who wore pearls. I wore a faux string belonging to my mother for a lot of the seventies and early eighties. this was not because of 'bad luck' but because the girls who wore pearls were supposed to be 'uptight' 'not with it' and probably in a sorority or voting Republican (both of which were not fashionable at the time). I don't see how pearls have anything to do with how you vote (not that I have any problem with voting Republican--I'm just pointing out that back then it was a very radical time) and I thought they were way prettier than the ugly beads adn pretend ethnic jewelry others were wearing, so I kept wearing pearls and eventually the rest of the world caught up.
Opals--that's Victorian superstition. some think it came from a popular book by Sir Walter Scott with a character called 'Anne of Geierstein." Lady Anne always wore and opal and eventually vanished in a puff of smoke.
It's all ridiculous.
There is a book called 'the curious lore of precious stones' by someone called Kunz which is online somewhere that details a lot of these superstitions re: gemstones--there is some superstitious belief about everything single one of them.
I never heard that buying the gemstone yourself cancelled out the supposed bad luck.
I wore pearls to my wedding by the way and am still happily married 28 years later.

 

[Fly Girl]

I wore an opal to my wedding, and am happily married 35 years later. Health is pretty good, too.

Anyhow, IMHO, opals and pearls are not bad luck.

 

[terrosa]

I quite like pearls,so not bad luck,good luck

 

[4ever]

She thinks that the giving of pearls is bad luck, not buying them yourself, which is why she wanted to pay for $1 per pearl (lol). I know she's a superstitious person so feel a bit stupid that I'd never heard to this and thus gave her an inappropriate gift...twice!

Anyway, I think it's BS, but still pretty interesting.

 

[Black Jade]

Too bad for you that the superstition didn't require that she pay a bit more.
Is she a particular ethnicity or religion?

 

[4ever]

No, New Zealand European. I think she just has a superstitious family.

 

[innerkitten]

never heard that....probably a rumor started by the diamond industry!

LOL!

 

[Arkteia]

I heard that pearls were associated with tears... However, if you look at old paintings, almost every lady of wealth and high standing wears pearls... so they could also be associated with wealth! While I know that there are stones or rather, jewelry items that may be personally "unhappy" (same refers to clothes), I do not think we should generalize.

In fact, good pearls are expensive so at least they are not associated with poverty...

 

[The Old Pearler]

They have been associated with tears, but they were associated with the tears of deity as a gift from God, not sadness.

 

[KaeKae]

I've heard the idea that opals are back luck, my childhood best friend wanted an opal pendant for confirmation, her mother was hesitant to get her one, but eventually changed her mind. No bad luck, that I know of.

My mother wore a strand of pearls and matching pearl earrings on her wedding day. Parents were married, till death do they part. I wore the same earrings on my wedding day, we're married 22 years. My best friend wore mom's pearl strand for her 'something borrowed,' they are married 21 years. So far, so good!

I have an aunt who seems to think that it's bad luck/wrong for anyone to wear any stone that is not his/her birthstone. Apparently, the sapphire ring that was my grandmother's should have gone to her or her daughter, because they were both born in Sept, and I was not. Ahem...Auntie A, isn't that a diamond in your wedding set? Guess diamonds don't count in the bad luck/birthstone thing. Convenient, , don't you think?