Turquoise Gemstone Squash Blossom Necklace Set, Squash Blossom Earrings, Southwest Jewelry, Navajo, Gift for Her, Artisan, Handmade

$42
18 | gemstone
Turquoise Magnesite Gemstone Linked Beaded Necklace and Earring Set

Perfect for the Southwestern woman! Square turquoise Magnesite stones, individually linked, creating a chain displaying a Squash Blossom Pendant. Matching dangle earrings included.

Necklace length: 18" EXT. adds 3"
Pendant: 2 1/2" L X 2 1/8" W
Earrings: 1" X 1", fish hook dangle
Lead and nickel compliant

As with many native cultures, wealth was often worn in the form of adornment, and in many early photographs of the Navajo and other Southwestern Native peoples, it is clear that Squash Blossom Necklaces were worn with pride and reverence for their beauty and inherent value.

The squash blossom bead bears an even more striking resemblance to the pomegranate fruit, the image of which has been a recurring motif in art and literature for more than 2000 years. Originally cultivated in the Middle East, the pomegranate spread east to China and west to Africa, and eventually proliferated in southern Spain. In fact, the city of Granada in Spain’s Andalusia region was named after the revered fruit, which symbolized many things including royalty due to its crown-like shape as well as fertility, birth, and eternal life, due to its abundance of seeds.

In colonial times, the Spanish brought the plant and its symbiology with them to the New World, and the iconography decorated their missions as well as their personal adornments and horse gear. Given the knowledge that the Navajo assimilated these ornaments into their jewelry, we can assume that the “squash blossom” bead is actually the descendant of thousands of years of Eurasian symbiology, and perhaps was only given the name “squash blossom” in the early 20th Century when marketing the necklace to the tourists traveling the Southwest via train.

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