October Gifts
Visit Home PageOctober gifts of opals and chrysanthemums head this month’s traditional gift list.
According to the Victorians, flowers each had their own meanings, and to give a gift of flowers also implied something past the pure pleasure of their beauty. Here are meanings associated with the color of the Chrysanthemums:
- Chrysanthemum (red): I love
- Chrysanthemum (white): truth
- Chrysanthemum (yellow): slighted love
October’s most popular Birthstone is Opal, the name derived from the Sanskrit word “upala,” as well as the Latin “opalus,” meaning “precious stone.”
To ancient Romans, the opal was a symbol of love and hope. Asians called it the “anchor of hope.” Arabs say it fell from the heavens in flashes of lightning. It was believed to make its wearer invisible, hence the opal was the talisman of thieves and spies. During our modern Halloween, flashes of lightning might magically appear through LED lighting.
The opal was supposed to maintain a strong heart, prevent fainting, protect against infection, and cleanse foul-smelling air.
We have many GREEN ways today to keep our air clean and adding a fresh scent, Household cleaning products do double duty.
The alternate birthstone for October is the TOURMALINE, a gemstone that exhibits the broadest spectrum of gemstone colors. Gem-quality forms of this mineral have in the past been misidentified as rubies, emeralds and sapphires. In fact, a famous tourmaline — the size of a pigeon’s egg — belonging to the Russian Empress Catherine the Great was long thought to be a ruby. The name of this gemstone is believed to derive from the Singhalese (Sri Lankan) word “toramalli,” a term applied to yellow, green or brown stones, that means “something little out of the earth.”
Libra, a movable air sign, is the astrological sign for many of those born in October. Wind Power to Librans!
Through traditions and history, we’ve been inspired to find great gifts for October at Village Green Gifts.
