February Birthstone - Amethyst
Amethyst is thought to encourage celibacy, piety, and sobriety. “Amethyst” comes from the Greek word amethystos which is basically translated “not drunken.” The Catholic church has used it in decoration since the Middle Ages. Amethyst is the birthstone for February and a suggested gift for the fourth, sixth and seventeenth wedding anniversaries.
I love the Greek legend that explains the origin of amethyst. One day Dionysius, the god of drunkenness, was insulted by a mortal and swore that he would cause the next mortal he came across to be mauled by tigers. As it happened, the next mortal to cross his path was Amethyst, a beautiful young girl on her way to pay tribute to Diana. Diana, having known of Dionysius’ plan, turned Amethyst into a crystal statue to protect her from the tigers’ claws. When Dionysius saw the statue and realized what he had done, he cried tears of wine that stained the statue purple thus creating the stone we know today.
Unlike garnets that are found in many different colors, amethysts are all purple. The colors range from pale lilac to deep purple, with the deep colors being the most valuable. Amethyst can occur in 2 different forms: long prismatic crystals with a point (six-sided pyramid) at either end or druzes (crystalline crusts) with only one pointed end. Amethyst has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness.
Just a bit of trivia - one of the largest amethysts ever cut is 343 carats and is housed at the National History Museum in London.
