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| Handmade Earrings |
Handmade Earrings Bring Good Luck To Brides
Handmade earrings made with the image of a lucky charm customarily gifted to Scottish brides is a powerful symbol of a groom's love. The Luckenbooth collection available on Orkney also features brooches, pendants and a charm to hang from a bracelet. Luckenbooth brooches arose in Edinburgh in the 16th century where these were sold in 'lucken' or locked booths on the Royal Mile. They were given to brides as love tokens or as lucky charms for heading off witches. They were also pinned to a baby's shawl to avoid them being carried off by fairies or other unnatural beings. The symbol was considered to protect the wearer from the evil eye.
The Luckenbooth design boasts a crown above one heart, or two connected hearts. You can easily find many brooches and handmade earrings, pendants and charms which feature two hearts and are fabricated from silver or gold. Similar creations were seen in medieval Europe, usually offered as brooches.
The booths in Edinburgh where these were sold were the first long-lasting stores in the city, though they do not exist now, having been knocked down in the Nineteenth century. One of the city's most well-known residents of long ago was thought to have presented a Luckenbooth brooch - that was Mary Queen of Scots. People say that she gave a brooch to her second husband Lord Darnley.
Scottish and Orkney people went out to Canada and the north of what is now the USA in connection with the fur trade. They bought and sold goods with the local people. In this way the Luckenbooth design became a favored item worn by Native American people.
The jewelry was used to negotiate for pelts snared by Native American trappers. A 1765 list of 'Equivalents for Barter of goods and skins' details how one small brooch might be exchanged for a racoon or musquash skin. The mainly silver heart shaped emblems were sought after not simply with Native people but in addition as valued souvenirs from home, among the Scots who emigrated.
Handmade Earrings Make Great Love Tokens
Some wedding couples today like to hand out Luckenbooth tokens for good luck to their guests. Orkney-crafted Luckenbooth charms could well be a highly affordable and special way to do this. And the charms could match up with the handmade earrings worn by the new bride.
So while ordering your wedding rings and Celtic engagement rings, it is worth adding a touch more luck with a Luckenbooth item.
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