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| Pueblo Mosaic Jewelry Photo: Museum of New Mexico |
It is a rare thing when I find a truly authentic article that touches to the core of the
Indigenous artist, and their jewelry creations. I found this article via the
Internet and was pleased that the Museum of New Mexico discusses the rich,
ancient knowledge of why, where, when and how many of the desert's Indigenous
people wear turquoise. As Indigenous peoples of the 21st century, many of us wear turquoise for spiritual reasons. Blessings.
Santa Fe features Turquoise,
Water, Sky: The Stone and Its Meaning
March 20, 2014
Museum of New Mexico
If you love Turquoise, make your way to
Santa Fe for a new exhibit. The Turquoise, Water, Sky: The
Stone and Its Meaning exhibit opens at the Museum
of Indian Arts and Culture on April 13, 2014, in Santa Fe, New
Mexico, and will run through March 2016. The exhibit showcases the museum’s
ample collection of southwestern jewelry and addresses all aspects of the
stone.
In the Southwest, people have used turquoise to make jewelry and for
ceremonial purposes for over a thousand years and may have traded it to the
great population centers of Mexico. The Navajo, Zuni, Hopi, and Santo Domingo
developed distinctive jewelry-making traditions over the past couple of
centuries, producing world-renowned and highly desired objects. Turquoise,
Water, Sky presents
hundreds of necklaces, bracelets, belts, rings, earrings, silver boxes, and
other objects illustrating how the stone was used and its deep significance to
the people of the region.
Despite its close identification in the US with the Southwest, turquoise
has long been esteemed in other parts of the world. Turquoise was one of the
stones used in the gold funeral mask of King Tutankhamen in Ancient Egypt and
it is prized by Iranians, the Chinese, Tibetans, Uzbeks, and by South American
indigenous groups. The oldest turquoise mines in the world, operated for
thousands of years, are in Iran. The word “turquoise” comes from the French
name for a beautiful blue stone they thought came from Turkey, but was actually
from Persia.
Additional information below:
The regions where turquoise is highly valued as a gem
stone, the US Southwest, central and northern Mexico, Tibet, Andean South
America, and Uzbekistan, are all arid regions. This is no coincidence as
turquoise and its color symbolize water and sky and sometimes both.
The Zuni word for turquoise can be translated as “sky
stone.” This link between turquoise and sky is true outside the Southwest, for
example in Tibet, where the sky is sometimes called “the turquoise of Heaven.”
Turquoise’s stronger symbolism in the Southwest is to
water, a scarce but essential resource. Turquoise has an almost poetic
connection to water. It is formed in arid lands by infrequent precipitation
flowing through host rock and depositing minerals and salts. It’s fitting that
the resulting stone’s color echoes its origin.
Pueblo dances during the summer growing season are
performed to ensure rain for crops with the dancers’ wearing turquoise regalia
alluding to rain.
Southwestern turquoise has been mined for over a thousand
years at various locations in Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada.
Turquoise, the stone, ranges from white (also called
“chalk”), to deep blue, pale blue, florescent yellow-green, deep green, and
everything in between.
Turquoise is a soft stone and changes color as it is
worn, becoming darker and greener. In many parts of the world it is believed
that turquoise can absorb poisons and protect the wearer, or alternatively,
that its color reflects the health of its wearer.
While the color of turquoise is important, the color and
shape of the matrix, the veins of host rock that run through turquoise,
contribute to its prestige and value.
Shell and turquoise are often used together. Both allude
to water, one based on origin and the other on color with the pairing
intensifying the water symbolism.
For the Navajo, turquoise is linked to protection and
health. At birth, babies receive their first turquoise beads. The stone, in
both whole and crushed form, is also included in puberty rites, marriage and
initiation ceremonies, and in healing ceremonies and other rituals. With the
stone so intertwined with every stage of Navajo life it is no accident that
they are famed for their turquoise jewelry.
The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is
located on Museum Hill in Santa Fe, New Mexico. To find additional details and
information on the exhibit and on all things Santa Fe, visit www.santafe.org.
Information courtesy: Santa Fe CVB
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