Wearing Charm Bracelets - a Short History
For thousands of years men and women have been using charms as amulets to ward off evil or for fortune and prosperity. 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 take with them to the afterlife so that the gods would name them and assign them their appropriate rank.
In Rome the early Christians wore a charm fashioned in the form of a fish to recognize one another. In the Dark Ages, charms were often used for political or religious recognition and to designate the lineage of the possessor. Knights in the Middle Ages wore them to protect themselves during battle and the common people also carried charms. All through the Renaissance their use faded, principally by the more affluent classes, as people became better educated and much less likely to believe in superstitions. On the other hand the less well-informed poorer classes still wore charms as protection against evil and to bring them luck.
Wearing charms was revived in the UK by Queen Victoria who wore a silver charm bracelet with lockets which contained pictures of her close family. This had a great affect on the wearing of charm bracelets by the general population who started to wear them, not as talismans, but as ornamental items. Glass beads, family crests and lockets became the rage of the day. Subsequent to the finish of World War 2 there was a massive outbreak of charm wearing as servicemen brought home ornaments and beads to their fiancees from far away countries of the world. Craftsmen in the States carried on the fashion and started to make charms and silver charm jewelry. From that time wearing charm bracelets has continued to boom.
In the present day a large range of charm bracelets, earrings and pendants are accessible with bracelets being the most well-liked. Silver and gold are ordinarily used although some people favor bracelets made from pearls or beads with precious metal charms. Bracelets vary in cost from under $100 to many thousands of dollars so are within everyone’s finances. There are many kinds of religious charms depicting saints and a considerable array of charms depicting objects and animals including crosses, hearts, ankhs,rabbits etc. One of the most well-liked are angel charms.
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