Pearls and superstition

[Tanalasta_01]

We recently purchased a pair of pearl earrings and are wondering about the superstition behind gifting pearls. The online forums and information appears to be quite inconsistent!

So ... some believe that a woman should buy their own pearls and to receive them as a gift is bad luck. And that if someone was to gift them pearls, they should pay them back a nominal sum (e.g. a penny / dollar)

Another is that one shouldn't ever buy their own pearls and that they should be borrowed or gifted.

Quite confused and wondering whether someone can shed light on them. They're a rather beautiful but simple pair of pearl and diamond earrings with onyx and platinum. Nothing too fancy, South Sea 9mm pearls and at best A or AA grade knowing the jewellery store we bought them from!

.

 

[Pearlescence]

Superstition is a load of old rubbish. I regularly get 'ooh I can't buy pearls although I would so love to have some because my mother/grandmother/aunt etc said pearls were tears.
Where would that leave the small but happy band of pearl vendors? I'm very happy.
Ignore silly gossip and mumbo-jumbo and enjoy your pearls.

 

[Snowdrop13]

I have never heard this. I have heard superstitions about emeralds and opals being “unlucky” (to the extent that my mother won’t wear them and replaced an opal in a ring with a ruby) but not pearls!

PS those earrings are beautiful!

 

[dk168]

Who is going to buy me jewellery if I do not buy them myself?!

DK

 

[Pearlescence]

Opals and emeralds are said to be unlucky because they are fragile and break. No other reason. Simply dropping an emerald onto a hard surface and you could be looking at a cracked stone or lots of little fragments. That's pretty unlucky.

 

[Rubybrick]

Who is going to buy me jewellery if I do not buy them myself?!

DK

same here!
OP, your earrings are beautiful, love the onyx, enjoy them!

 

[Gloria27]

A friend of mine has got these weddings to attend this summer and asked my advice about gifting jewelry to the brides. She doesn't want to spend a lot of money on these gifts but she wants nice pieces that will last. I suggested that she buys pearls and her reply was that a bride should never wear pearls because it means her marriage will be unhappy, basically they symbolize future tears. There was no way to sway her...didn't even try after that reply.
Heard another one, black pearls bring misfortune because ...they are black. Boo hoo!

 

[pearlsngems]

I am not a superstitious person. I buy all my own pearls, and have for years.

 

[Bluegemz]

I’m not superstitious about pearls, and I’ve heard all kinds of stories, from good luck to bad luck. I don’t believe any of them. One story that I love is that gifts of the sea should be given to you. I just find this so romantic, that I don’t care if it’s true! What’s interesting is that I enjoy wearing things that were gifted more than things which I’ve bought for myself. My husband, mother and son have bought pearls for me. I have been mighty tempted to buy some ripple pearls recently though, and if it comes to it, I will buy them myself.

 

[stonewell]

I subscribe only to the portion of both superstitions that involve receiving pearls... so I gladly buy them myself and happily accept them as gifts.

And those are beautiful drop earrings, @Tanalasta_01!

 

[whitewave]

I don’t really have pearls because DH’s grandmother always said

pearls bring tears.

 

[JPie]

The way I see it, if someone loves you enough to buy you pearls, you’re pretty lucky. If you can afford to buy yourself pearls, you’re lucky.

Besides, what else are you going to clutch when you’re shocked?

 

[cmd2014]

Wait, I thought pearls were traditional at weddings because they symbolize purity. Like all the other accoutrements of the bride (the white dress, the veil, etc.). But it looks like it depends on where you are from:

https://www.everafterguide.net/meaning-of-pearls-in-a-wedding.html

 

[Pearlescence]

If pearls mean tears then I, along with every other vendor, should be drowning daily.
It's all a load of rubbish.

 

[lambskin]

Superstitions are merely that. Buy what you want and receive gifts gracefully.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Those are beautiful pearl earrings! Those of us who have had pearls for many years certainly do not blame our pearls for any misfortunes we have had. Supersitions are meaningless unless you choose to assign meaning to them yourself.

 

[Rubybrick]

I don’t really have pearls because DH’s grandmother always said

pearls bring tears.

I would just interpret that as tears of joy!

 

[Pearlescence]

I suspect the tears stuff got conflated into pearls=tears because pearls are a symbol of the virgin Mary (hence pearls for bride at wedding) but got transferred to tears because of her tears at death of son.
It's all a one with ways to joo-joo and control events. Superstitions arise because people are looking to make a link between two events and weld some control over them..and they make a false/emotional assumption rather than relying on facts and evidence.
'How do I make sure I have a good harvest? I could sacrifice an animal to my god. that might do the trick' gets good harvest..it's dead animals every year from then on. (of course bad harvest because of lazy farming, bad weather or rats eating the seeds means a bigger animal or a virgin next year etc etc etc)
Like a sportsman with lucky underpants!
(sorry about the rant but poor decision making based on 'feelings and emotion' rather than evidence is an bee in my bonnet)

 

[Gloria27]

I think pearls have been associated with Lunar deities long before Christianity. Pearls come from the water, the Moon "controls" the water (tides and all). That's the reason it's June's birthstone (Cancer=water sign), and all birthstones have astrological connotations.
Pearlescence is right nonetheless.

 

[Arkteia]

Russians are into horoscopes, magic stuff and superstitions, so I went to the Russian site “the art of magic” and asked where the superstition about pearls and tears came from.

Apparently, from one old misconception - that when a mollusk creates a pearl, it is crying and pearls are mollusc’s tears.

First, molluscs don’t cry. They, actually, do not have organized nervous system and likely do not feel the pain, just some stimulus.

Second, as the “art of magic” rightfully says, our, human, tears may also be “tears of joy”, so who said that tears are always bad?

The site also says that pearls are great for businesswomen as they help in negotiations.

Pearls help to preserve beauty till old age and promote health.

But, as the art of magic warns, pearls “always look for a couple” and it is better to wear two pearl items, a necklace and a ring, etc. Perhaps a pair of earrings is already “a pair”?

It does not sound too bad, what I have read...

P.S. did not find anything about rubies, but emerald protects from liars and bad people, as well as drinking and bad behavior. Opal helps to get rid of addictions, coral in the house protects from thieves. There are lots of counter-omens, good omens, so the choice is yours.

 

[Arkteia]

I suspect the tears stuff got conflated into pearls=tears because pearls are a symbol of the virgin Mary (hence pearls for bride at wedding) but got transferred to tears because of her tears at death of son.
It's all a one with ways to joo-joo and control events. Superstitions arise because people are looking to make a link between two events and weld some control over them..and they make a false/emotional assumption rather than relying on facts and evidence.
'How do I make sure I have a good harvest? I could sacrifice an animal to my god. that might do the trick' gets good harvest..it's dead animals every year from then on. (of course bad harvest because of lazy farming, bad weather or rats eating the seeds means a bigger animal or a virgin next year etc etc etc)
Like a sportsman with lucky underpants!
(sorry about the rant but poor decision making based on 'feelings and emotion' rather than evidence is an bee in my bonnet)

You are right about control, superstitions and rituals, think OCD.

And pearls are somehow linked to virginity, only I think it was before Christ as in pagan Russia young men would give river seed pearls to their fiancées as gifts.

 

[Pearlescence]

'men would give river seed pearls to their fiancées as gifts.' well, I suppose it would prove that they could provide food.

 

[Arkteia]

Some other bits of omens: in old times, during a wedding, a couple would be bound together by a string of pearls as pearls strengthen marital ties. Pearls protect from evil spells and dishonest people in business. In Ancient Rome, women would take pearls in a bed as pearls are under Venus’ influence; they could also promote conception. And of course, a pearl in a cup of wine or water could reveal any poison.
To rejuvenate his favorite pearl, Ivan the Terrible made a virgin of unblemished reputation to hold it in her hand and bathe with it 101 time. They said it worked!

 

[Gloria27]

In Ancient Rome, women would take pearls in a bed as pearls are under Venus’ influence

I was going to say pearls were associated with Venus too, because Venus=Aphrodite and she was born from the sea. Interestingly, a lot of white gems are associated with Venus because of their colour, like white sapphires or diamonds.

Another thing, I've read that some people can ruin pearls by wearing them, but I think it's about skin type. Some people can't wear silver,it turns black on them.

 

[canuk-gal]

I don’t really have pearls because DH’s grandmother always said

pearls bring tears.

They only bring tears when you loose one of the earrings pairs...or strand breaks and little white things fling around....or when you see someone else with better stuff than you!

 

[whitewave]

They only bring tears when you loose one of the earrings pairs...or strand breaks and little white things fling around....or when you see someone else with better stuff than you!

Lol. True.