Birth Stones
Birth stones are precious gems that are meant to symbolize the month
you were born. They are very commonly given as birthday gifts since
this is another common custom to celebrate the day you were born. The
concept of birth stones has been around for hundreds of years, and
the precious gems associated with each birth month have also changed
many times within this time period. This was until the National Association
of American Jewelers worked on standardizing the gems that were used
for each month’s birthstone, this was done in the early 20th
century but some of these birthstones have still changed a bit since
back then. There are also some months that have a couple different
kinds of gems that are used as birth stone, and this is because some
are quite expensive, so in order for everyone who wants birth stone
jewelry to be able to afford it there are less expensive options for
the months that have the more expensive gems associated with them.
The birth stones that are recognized today are as follows: The month of
January’s birth stone is garnet, and this one has remained the same
for many years. Amethyst is the stone for February and this is another of
the birth stones that has remained the same since the standardization of
the birth gems. The traditional birthstones of March were bloodstone and
jasper, but in today’s society it is aquamarine. For the month of April
the traditional birth stones were sapphires and diamonds, but nowadays it
is the diamond and the sapphire is designated as the birthstone of a different
month. May had the traditional birth stones being agate and the emerald,
and now the emerald is the recognized birthstone. The two precious materials
for the month of June are pearls and moonstones, and traditionally they were
the emerald and alexandrite. July’s modern birthstone is the ruby,
and traditionally it was also the ruby as well as onyx. August is peridot,
and in the past it was carnelian and sardonyx. Sapphire is the modern day
birthstone of September and traditionally there were two birth stones for
September, sapphire and peridot. October has two and these are opal and rose
zircons, the traditional stones for the month were tourmaline and pearl.
The stones for November are topaz and citrine and these two have remained
the same over the years. December was traditionally the ruby and zircon,
but in modern times they are turquoise and blue topaz, there are also many
people that consider tanzanite a December birthstone and this was added by
the gem society in the early 21st century.