It is the week of lovers here, those heady days when the whole world seems to pair off in advance of Lenten abstinence and Easter fecundity. With the temperatures in the high fifties, due to reach an unseasonal sixty by week’s end, the trees are budding anxiously and the birds busy stocking up on food for the mating season.
One of the markers here is the emergence of the Raven couples: Each year, in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day, at least one or two mated pairs begin a public courtship. They begin, much like their human counterparts, somewhat tentatively: flying in tandem, yet when they alight, seated apart, chattering in shy yet animated conversation. Soon, though, they move closer together, until eventually they are seated side by side, heads touching, exchanging soft corvid words of love.
You know that they have decided to set up housekeeping when the male leaves his beloved seated on the branch, returning some sort while later with a gift, a token of his love.
We like to think of courtship and gifts as distinctly human endeavors and expressions, but of course they are not: The animal kingdom is replete with such activities as a prelude to union. As I noted yesterday, what we loosely term “Western culture” has long since romanticized — and in so doing, sanitized — such processes beyond all recognition, but they remain a fundamental part of life’s hoop, and for beings other than only ourselves.
Valentine’s Day remains four days off, and popular culture is now rife with options for romantic gift-giving. What once was limited to candy or flowers, or, for those whose courtship has reached a stage of commitment, jewelry, has now been expanded to everything and anything imaginable, from clothes to cell phones to higher-end electronics, and for the wealthy, vehicles and travel.
Still, flowers and jewelry remain mainstays of the holiday. Both have long histories in Western culture as symbols of romantic love, although the latter, obviously, possesses a permanence, both literally and metaphorically, that the former does not.
What if you could combine the two? Wings has done just that with today’s featured work, one manifesting flowers that bloom eternally, no matter the weather or season. From its description in the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Red Flower Rain Cuff Bracelet
A monumental cabochon of red flower jasper serves as the focal point of this magnificent unisex cuff. The stone, a warm, earthy rose shade with a mulberry and charcoal matrix of dendritic wildflower blossoms, is set into an elevated scalloped bezel, trimmed with twisted silver, and accented with a tiny chatoyant tiger’s eye cabochon at one side. The cuff, wide and weighty, features a hand-stamped row of matched thunderhead symbols chased along the center of the band, flanked at either edge by a single row of thunderheads. The band itself tapers slightly at either end for a comfortable fit. In the inner band, morning stars and other celestial symbols are scattered like constellations tossed across the pre-dawn sky. Band is 1-11/16″ across, narrowing to 1-3/8″ at either end; the bezel is slightly wider, 1-7/8″ long by 1.25″ wide; the visible portion of the stone is 1.5″ long by 1-1/8″ wide (dimensions approximate). Other views shown at the link.
Sterling silver; red flower jasper
$1,550 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The spectacular stone that serves as this piece’s focal point is perfect for Valentine’s Day: warm pinks and reds dotted with natural “flowers” that will bloom for all eternity. The design of the band evokes earthy, elemental images of fertility and abundance. And it’s a work suitable for wearing by anyone, regardless of gender identification.
For those still looking for that perfect gift for a loved one to mark the upcoming holiday, it’s a breathtaking embodiment of the symbology of love: romantic love, love of the earth, love of the spirits as expressed in the gifts of the natural world. It’s a gift of love at its most eternal, flowers that will live forever, that can be worn forever . . . a gift like that spark, that small and fertile flame we call “love,” that lives within the heart.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
