yemeni necklaces

The usage of talismans is associated to different symbols and magical forces. Guide to hunt the bad spirits and present force for the individual who wears it. The use continues to be transmitted generation after generation, by oral tradition. There is a talisman plus a specific occasion for the use, as for example the use for babies, children, women or elderly people in various moments of life. Jewish babies and young children used to wear hoods, filled with amuletic pieces such as mother pearl, bells, chains and in addition coral beads. When girls were going to get married, they used to wear the hoodie (gargush) with an amulet of triangle shape and showing red decoration, meant to protect her fertility. A lot of the jewellery was anticipated to protect the wearer from evil forces manifested as disease and other misfortunes, and to bring blessings such as a healthy body and fertility.

antique yemeni necklaces

The talismans are already manufactured in different shapes,like boxes, kutub (amulet cases) or squared shapes just like the hirz amulet. The kutub or amulet cases were often filled up with handwritten parchments.The Muslim population used to fill them with Suras from the Koran, designed in Arabic, with wishes and followed by prayers.

yemeni necklaces

The Jewish Population accustomed to fill these Kutub with biblic paragraphs, prayers and Cabalistic formulas in Hebrew. Kutubs were originally worn to protect the wearer from your specific fear. It absolutely was a means to wear something real that may give the strength to battle the fear. We could start to see the Kutubs used as an element of the necklaces, related to spheric dugag beads, ambar and coral antique beads.



Muslims and Jewish use to share with you some universal amulets as well as use to talk about some specific ones, the example may be the snake head in the ending of some bracelets of the Northeast Yemen. The recognition from the snake was because they believed it protects against snakebites as well as in general, as the snake was obviously a medicinal symbol.



Since ancient times, the writing continues to be another a powerful amulet, as the words were known as possessors of power. For that Muslim population, the standard writing was the ninety-nine names of God, Koranic verses or pious words, like Mashallah or Bismillah. The amulets which contain this writing are generally called hirz, meaning protection in Arabic; and also the writing called Do´a, meaning prayer. Using numbers as protectors can also be found in both Bedouin and Jewish jewellery. Including the bells and dangling beads, they always appear in three, five or seven pieces, obtaining the power of warding the wearer in the evil eye.



Every one of the Middle Eastern Jewellery could be consider amuletic as well as the number of motifs is very big. From geometric designs with amuletic powers, religious symbols, vegetal representations and elements of our body as the hamzas or Fatima Hand. The Fatima hand is known as symbolic of protection in the whole Arab world, and in the Jewish community where is referred to as Hand of Mariam.