Indian legend: when oysters float to the surface to breathe, they meet dew and become pearls.
The ancient Greeks believed that pearls were mutated substances produced by shellfish being struck by lightning.
Danish mythology holds that pearls are the tears of mermaid, and there is a similar myth in China: On the night of full moon, Jiao Ren in the South China Sea looks at the moon and cries, and the tears turn into little pearls. The most difficult poem by Li Shangyin is also described in this way:
Mermaids shed pearl-like tears on the moon-green sea, and the blue fields breathed their jade to the sun.
Countless beautiful and romantic stories cast a poetic veil on pearls. In modern times, as we all know, pearls invade shellfish by parasites or sand, which stimulates them to secrete nacre and wrap foreign bodies layer by layer, becoming thicker and thicker, forming pearls with special soft luster and different shapes.
Pearl can be said to be a gem given to us by nature, and it is bred by living things. It is the only kind of organic jewelry from the ocean and rivers.
When you visit the museum, you will find that our human ancestors began to make ornaments with pearls nearly 10,000 years ago. In the Zhou Dynasty in China, there was a written record that the royal family decorated their hair with pearls. After Qin and Han dynasties, pearls were widely spread to nobles of all classes and quickly became the favorite of emperors and princes.
By the Ming Dynasty, pearls had reached an unprecedented popularity. There is also a description of Jia Baoyu's hairstyle in A Dream of Red Mansions: "I don't wear a crown at home, and I don't have a common angle. I only weave my short hair around. I wear it on my head, weave a big braid and tie it with a red ribbon. Spontaneous top to braid tip, four beads all the way, golden ruler below. " What a delicate and beautiful little guy this is.
In ancient times, there was no artificial breeding and no advanced fishing equipment. In order to collect pearls, we have to dive into rivers, lakes and oceans by hand, which is very difficult and dangerous. The acquisition of each pearl embodies the blood and sweat of the pearl picker and even the cost of being buried in the belly of the fish, so the price of pearls is far above gold and silver, as noble as the best jade.
Around the 4th century BC, this fashion trend of using pearls as decorations spread to the European continent. Soon, pearls were endowed with the symbol of love and beauty, just like Aphrodite, who was born in the pure sea, and were sought after by nobles.
With the changes of history and the development of religion, pearls represent more and more meanings: loyalty, sacredness, nobility and honesty. Elizabeth I, known as the virgin queen, loves jewelry made of pearls. In her oil paintings, everyone wears an amazing number of pearl necklaces and hair ornaments.
In addition to the virgin queen, ladies and gentlemen from all walks of life in Europe are also very fond of pearls. How much they love can be seen from the oil paintings left in western history.
The gentle and feminine temperament of pearls can be perfectly matched with any other gem, and can also be coordinated with any clothing and hairstyle. It is special because it is a gem with a halo of life, which has been painstakingly honed and nurtured, just like a mother conceived in October, and a good pearl has to be nurtured in a shell for many years.
Although cultured pearls are no longer so rare and hard to find, natural pearls are disappearing with people's over-exploitation. Maybe one day, we can only see natural pearls on antiques in museums. This tear left by nature is also a sad song about over-exploitation and consumption of the treasures that nature has given us.