Birthstone Gems

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The history of the use of birthstones is traced back to the breast plate of the high priest of canaan from the biblical story of the exodus.According to the bible, God promised Abraham, the first Jew, a separate homeland for Israelites, called the land of canaan.

The promise was delivered upon during the time of Moses. Moses led the Israelites from Egypt towards the promised land of Canaan thru the Exodus. The exodus was undertaken by twelve tribes. The kingdom of Israel was established and the Israelites were given a high priest to guide them spiritually. The high priest, Cohen Gadol, had a breast plate with twelve jewels(birthstones), which were engraved with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Crystalline Stones, or Jewels, were considered to have been chipped from the throne of the supreme being, and were considered to contain the souls of men. So the Stones ( Jewels ) on the breastplate were according to the children of Israel. Each tribe was assigned a sign of the zodiac as per the Egyptian calendar, and so, each jewel was correlated to a zodiac month. Over a period of time, depending on local availability of gems, and interpretation of names, variations of the list were used in different parts. After the Julian Calendar system was introduced, the birthstones list for the zodiac months was transposed to the corresponding calendar months. In 1912, the American National Jewelers Association released a "Modern" list of birthstones for calendar months, which is now widely accepted.