Are diamonds forever? Curses, myths and facts
This blog post talks about the history of the phrase ‘diamonds are forever’, cursed stones and facts about these beautiful gemstones.
Sam Self
03/02/2025
Hi all!
It’s September which means it’s officially Autumn and I don’t care what the weather says! I’ve been in Autumn mood for a few weeks now and have created a limited run of aluminium necklaces and cuffs inspired by this fabulous time of year.
These pieces will be live on my website from tomorrow morning for you lovely lot to enjoy as part of my virtual stall at the Online Autumn Market with Tresstle and And So To Shop
What symbol do you most associate with autumn? Is it coppery leaves falling from the trees, is it frosty mornings or is it pumpkins? For me it’s the definitely the latter. I have a slight obsession with them as you may know. They symbolise my favourite time of year, they come in all my favourite colours, and they are delicious to eat. I love a pumpkin pie and I drink pumpkin spiced lattes from a certain well-known coffee chain the entire time they are available!
We also had pumpkins decorating our autumn wedding and have since decorated our lounge with them as they just remind us so much of that happy day and fantastic time of year.
The pumpkin is a hallmark of Halloween, and on ‘all hallow’s eve’, pumpkins will light up the streets all over the country. But do you know WHY we have pumpkins for Halloween? Along with creepy costumes, face makeup and spooky decorations, Pumpkins have become a symbol of Halloween all over the world.
The origins of carved pumpkins for this time of year come from an ancient Irish myth about the fierce blacksmith, ‘Stingy Jack’, who was said to have fooled the devil several times into promising not to take his soul when he died. But because of his dealings with dark powers, and love of strong liquor, Jack wasn’t welcome in heaven either.
So as a result, when Jack died, he had to walk the earth forever with a piece of glowing coal as his only light. Jack put the coal in a carved cabbage root and today he wanders in the dark with it throwing off an ethereal light.
For hundreds of years, people in England put carved vegetables such turnips and swedes with candles in windows to scare away Jack’s wandering soul, and eventually, these became pumpkins in early 20th century in America which have since been adopted all over the world.
But it’s not just about Halloween, as you might expect from my jewellery, I am a big lover of Samhain and all that goes with it!
What’s Samhain? Well, it’s a pagan religious festival originating from an ancient Celtic spiritual tradition. Halloween or Hallowe’en and pagans all over the world celebrate their New Year at this time (rather than 31st December). It’s a time when the “veil is thin” and people like to scry or communicate with spirits as they are said to be able to hear us better.
I personally like to decorate my house and have a small memento mori style altar with pictures of my lost loved ones. I include sugar skulls on this as they also chime well with this time of year and Day of the Dead of Dia de los Muertos. For more info on that take a look at my About page.
How do you celebrate Halloween? Are you drinking PSLs already?! I’d love to hear how you decorate your houses too!
Sam Self
Author
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