'Evil eye' jewelry that was used to protect a young girl 1,800 years ago unveiled in Israel

[Wicked Blue]

NBC News
April 3, 2023, 9:22 AM EDT
By Patrick Smith

Jewelry designed to ward off the “evil eye” and protect a young girl in her passage to the afterlife more than 1,800 years ago has been unveiled in Jerusalem some 50 years after the items were discovered.

The treasure — which includes golden earrings, a hairpin, a pendant and glass and gold beads bearing the symbols of the Roman Moon goddess Luna — was first discovered in a lead coffin in 1971, but has only now gone on display for the first time in a new exhibition, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Monday.

The jewelry would have been worn by the girl during her life and placed in her coffin to keep her safe, a common pagan practice that shows the diversity of late Roman Jerusalem, experts said.

Among the finds was a “lunula,” a gold pendant shaped like a crescent moon — but very little is known of the girl who wore it.

“The interring of the jewelry together with the young girl is touching. One can imagine that their parents or relatives parted from the girl, either adorned with the jewelry, or possibly lying by her side, and thinking of the protection that the jewelry provided in the world to come,” said Eli Escusido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/evil-eye-jewelry-protect-girl-roman-jerusalem-unveiled-rcna77857

[Kali]

1. I recognize what in my part of the world as a naja,

often accompanied by depictions of "squash blossoms" which due to their actual origins are pomegranate blossoms.

[Wicked Blue]

2. I couldn't resist looking up naja

Naja Symbol Meaning

The naja is a crescent-shaped piece that is often worn alone as a pendant or as the center piece of a squash blossom necklace in Southwestern Indian jewelry. The naja design shape is thought to have originated from the Moorish and then borrowed from the Spanish that was used as an ornamental design on horse bridle headstalls and as silver decorations on men’s pants.

The word “naja” is the Navajo word for “crescent”. Navajo Indian silversmiths began incorporating the naja design into their jewelry. The Navajo were the main Indian tribe that made the najas, but they were also made by some Pueblo tribes as well.
Naja History

The early najas were cast or hammered pendants that were simply decorated with chiseled or stamped designs. The naja would have a bail, loop or hook to attach it to a necklace. Some naja pendants were designed with a pin clasp on back so that the pendant could be taken off of a necklace and worn as a pin or brooch on clothing. The crescent-shaped naja was mainly added as a center piece to a necklace in what has become known as the squash blossom necklace.

The naja design will vary according to the silversmiths’ creative taste. There may be double or triple bars across the crescent. There may be even hand shapes at the bottom ends of the crescent which are believed to be from the Moorish representing the “hands of Fatima.” Some najas will have a center decorative piece or stone that is suspended often to freely dangle. Setting stones in the naja pendant began sometime after 1880. Later, with evolving lapidary techniques, more stones were fashioned on the naja and the squash blossom necklace. The squash blossom and naja began to have lapidary styles of inlay, cluster work and needlepoint stone work.

https://www.southwestsilvergallery.com/blog/the-naja-pendant/

[Kali]

3. I saw an exhibit of old horse bridles in Santa Fe a few years ago

***DROOL***