Between wedding rings and promise necklaces there are infinite reasons to gift people jewelry. There are many practices revolve around gifting jewelry to others. Jewelry is a very common gift and it is arguably cherished by all.

Jewelry is a very common gift to give your partner. It is show as a physical sign of connection between people. Obviously, in the case of wedding rings/bands its a to show other people that you are married and it shows that as long as you are wearing it you will stay true to your vows. While some couples may opt for other options, it is extremely common for people to do something along the lines of this. Not only is this common in relationships, its also common among friendships. Many young girls in the past couple of decades have heard of the infamous friendship necklace. It’s common for young girls to gift their friends these necklaces that connect that show that they have a best friend and that the are one when the necklaces are connected together. It has the same idea as wedding rings/bands and is gifted in recognition of a connection between people and to show others that they have a connection.

A lesser known culture that main point is gifting culture is Kandi. It’s a subculture that places emphasis on trading beaded jewelry/creations. It has ties with friendship bracelets but its much more fleshed out. Not only do they include beaded bracelets, but a lot of beaded and colorful art. The community places heavy emphasis on trading with others and being kind. Kandi is gifted to commemorate a friendship and it is a sign of PLUR culture which stands for peace, love, unity, and respect.

Another example of jewelry used to represent a connection is memorial Jewelry. Often times hospitals will provide family members facing a loss with a memory items to commemorate the life. Many hospitals will take finger/footprints, ECG, or even hair and turn it into jewelry. In the veterinary world, they will take paw prints or tufts of hair and turn them into memory jewelry for the owner or caregivers to wear. Finally another common example is using ashes and turning it into jewelry. All these ensure that those facing the loss can have a peace of that person with them forever. This is a perfect example of connection through jewelry because even though that person is gone you now have a peace of them with you always, and it just so happens to be in the form of jewelry.

Gifting jewelry to other people as a token of appreciation is very common. Often times the jewelry might have to do with something that y’all share in common. For example two enthusiasts of art might get each other paint brush necklaces. This is a sign of friendship and an example of something that they share in common.

To touch back on Jewelry being a sign of community, I can be used to show a community that you personally identify with. In religious communities their symbol can be turned into Jewelry to show connection among the faith and with the divine. For example in Judaism, the Star of David is worn by many to show that they follow the faith. Same with the Islam and the Crescent and Star. Apart from religious communities, some members of the deaf community use the “I Love You” sign as jewelry to connect themselves to deaf culture.

Often times, the significance of how Jewelry connects people is overlooked, it is very important in showing a connection among people and how important it is to be connected. A lot of the world participates in this action, but not everyone looks at it through the perspective of connection. This is really important to developing and supporting cultures the that we have now. When people are connected through jewelry it allows rich cultures to disperse and allow people to realize that they are apart of something bigger then themselves, and that they are important.

McKenzie Swain