December: Turquoise
If cold December gave you birth,
The month of snow and ice and mirth,
Place on your hand a turquoise blue,
Success will bless whate’er you do.
December, the last month of the dying year, chill with the shivering threat of its dying, needs a great virtue to preserve it till it is overtaken by the touch of January and the promise of the new year. This great virtue the ancients found in the turquoise.
Among the ancient peoples of many lands, it was the common practice to bury turquoises with the bodies of their monarchs and their chiefs, to tide them over the pitchy paths of transfer and bear them safely to the new world and the new life beyond the tomb. In the pyramids of Egypt, in the Aztec tombs, in the mounds of Mexico, jewels and beads of turquoise abound.
At the beginning of life in this world, too, the turquoise is welcomed; there is still no better good-luck gift to a newborn child than a necklace of turquoise beads. It is significant that December is the birth month of the Holy Child, for whose nativity the gifts no doubt included turquoise.
Since the turquoise is comparatively soft among stones, it can be readily engraved; magic inscriptions, charms, and prayers have been cut upon it, to add their power to its auspicious glow. The turquoise is thus a protective stone. December being a precipitous month, when snow and ice are prelude to a fall, with hillsides hazardous and even a level walk a place where one is prone to slip, the turquoise is an excellent talisman against falling. In fact, the saddles of horses have been set with turquoise, to keep the steed surefooted on journey or in battle. St. George was secure against a fall in his battle with the dragon; paintings and tapestries of the valiant saint show a turquoise in the hilt of his great sword.