Gambian Birthstone Emerald Fashion 2015 Wedding Party Jewellery 1033

 Gambian Birthstone Emerald Fashion 2015 Wedding Party Jewellery.  

By Aamir Mannan.

Emerald in different cultures, and emerald lore[edit]

The Gachala Emerald is one of the largest gem emeralds in the world, at 858 carats (171.6 g). This stone was found in 1967 at La Vega de San Juan mine in Gachalá, Colombia. It is housed at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Emerald is regarded as the traditional birthstone for May, as well as the traditional gemstone for the astrological signs of Taurus, Gemini and sometimes Cancer.

One of the quainter anecdotes on emeralds was by the 16th-century historian Brantôme, who referred to the many impressive emeralds the Spanish under Cortez had brought back to Europe from Latin America. On one of Cortez's most notable emeralds he had the text engraved Inter Natos Mulierum non sur-rexit mayor ("Among those born of woman there hath not arisen a greater," Matthew 11:11) which referred to John the Baptist. Brantôme considered engraving such a beautiful and simple product of nature sacrilegious and considered this act the cause for Cortez's loss of an extremely precious pearl (to which he dedicated a work, A beautiful and incomparable pearl), and even for the death of King Charles IX of France, who died soon after.[29]

India's most famous temple, the Madurai Minakshiamman temple, has its chief deity as goddess Minakshi whose idol is made of emerald, most likely carved out of a single emerald stone.