Garnet
January
Amethyst
February
Aquamarine
March
Diamond
April
A birthstone is a gemstone that represents a person's period of birth that is usually the month or zodiac sign.
Some months are given multiple birthstones, but typically one birthstone is assigned to each month.
The history of associating birthstones to each month of the year dates as far back as the Book of Exodus. The
historian Josephus made a connection between the twelve stones in the High Priest's breastplate, the twelve months
in the year, and the twelve signs of the zodiac. In the eighth and ninth century, the common practice was to keep all twelve birthstones and wear
the appropriate stone during a given month.
In Modern Western customs, jewelers have adopted an official list of stones with their respective month. The list
was created in 1912 by the American National Association of Jewelers (now Jewelers of America) as a means of standardizing birthstones in
order to increase commercial profit. Jewelers of America has has kept this list updated throughout the past century with gems
such as citrine, zircon, tanzanite, and spinel.
There is a
full detailed list
of birthstones and their associated month, chronicaled by the time frame that they were officially
known as such.
