Dootlizhi.

TURQUOISE FACTS

Despite turquoise’s close identification in the US with the Southwest, other parts of the world have long held turquoise in high esteem.

Non-Indigenous Realm-

Turquoise was used on the gold funeral mask of King Tutankhamen in Ancient Egypt.

 

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.

Indigenous Realm- 

Turquoise is formed in arid regions by infrequent precipitation flowing through host rock and depositing minerals and salts. It is in these same regions – the US Southwest, central and northern Mexico, Andean South America, Tibet and Uzbekistan – that it is most valued as a gem stone.

 

The Zuni word for turquoise can be translated as “sky stone.” This link between turquoise and sky is also true outside the Southwest; for example, in Tibet, the sky is sometimes called “the turquoise of Heaven.”

 

Pueblo dancers wear turquoise regalia during the summer growing season to ensure rain.

 

The stone’s color ranges from white (called chalk), to deep blue, pale blue, florescent yellow-green, deep green, and everything in between, but it’s the color and shape of the matrix, the veins of the host rock that run through turquoise, that contribute to its prestige and value.

 

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 absorbs poisons and protect the wearer, or alternatively, that its color reflects the health of its wearer.

 

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

Navajo thought-.

 

The Navajo link turquoise 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, in healing ceremonies and other rituals. With the stone so intertwined with every stage of Navajo life, it is no coincidence that they are famed for their turquoise jewelry.

Source: http://www.indianartsandculture.org/