My Religious Jewelry

Indian Jewelry

For the up through the 1600s, jewelry had many social, economic, and religious implications. For hundreds of years, the Indians of North America used beads as a form of currency, a representation of treaties, a form of exchange to create alliances, and special meaning in ceremonies.

Rites of Passage: For Native Americans, jewelry was not just a form of aesthetic beauty as we see today. Indian jewelry was primarily a form of identity and used to indicate that an individual has entered an important stage in life. Among many tribes, adolescents were initiated into adulthood when they received a spiritual totem consisting of beads, shells, or symbols representing animals and natural landmarks in nature. Indian religious jewelry was worn among women after their first menses and newly married couples.

Ceremonies: Native Americans integrated beads and pendants into traditional ceremonies. Admiration, dependence, and gratitude for the natural world influenced Native American's religious jewelry. Consequently, natural materials (feathers), minerals (turquoise), and metals (silver) were incorporated into Indian jewelry in ritual expressions. During rituals, individuals took great care in preparing for the event. Donning their most prized possessions, the participants were decked to the nines in body adornment and ornamentation. Healing ceremonies, season celebrations, harvest rituals and warfare all required specific Indian jewelry that were in a particular color, made of a specific material, and representing a specific symbol.