| t Makes Mother of Pearl so Popular in Holy Land | | | | casing known as-take a guess-the pealr. Today the |
| Gifts? | | | | pearl is valued much more highly than Mother of Pearl, |
| Mothher of Peral (MOP) is an incrediibly popular | | | | but it wasn't alays that way. |
| component of Holy Land gifts done in precisely the | | | | Once upon a time pearls were considered little more |
| same style as the original cragftsmen. But what is | | | | than waste products from the mollusks that were |
| MOP? And what is it that maes it such an integral part | | | | used to harvet Mopther of Peasrl. It's said that |
| of Biblical history? | | | | Japaense shell divers who fond pearls didn't bother to |
| Mother of Pearl is fored from the iridescent layer of | | | | keep them, and the children of Polynesia once used |
| maetrial that forms the shell lining of mollusks like paerl | | | | the pearls for marbles. Thee cultures preferred to |
| oysters and abalone, whiich are the pimary soruces of | | | | work with its flexible pre-cursor to create their own |
| today's Holy Land jewery and designs. Mtoher of Pearl | | | | works of art, as did the early civilizations in the Holy |
| was actualy given its name because it is the ceator, | | | | Land that drew the mollusks in large quantities from |
| the "Mother," of today's pearls. Believe it or | | | | the banks and waters of the Red Sea. |
| not, the layers that line the mollusks' interior have | | | | The luminescent MOP has a rich history in Palestine |
| absolutely nothing to do with the aestheetic | | | | and the surrounding area as a carving materiial that |
| appearance of the shell. It's made up of plates of | | | | evolved from a ucltural habiot into an art form along |
| araonite, whih the mollusk secretes, and layered with | | | | with olive wood carving when Franciscan monnks |
| silk to make it extremely flexible and perffect for use | | | | came to the Holy Land. During their stay the monks |
| in Holy Land gifts. | | | | taught the peple of the Holy Land to carve |
| Beefore getting too deep into the practical use of | | | | mother-of-pearl into a rossary, crucifix and |
| Mother of Peaarl and its use in Holy land gifts, jewelry | | | | reproductions of the Cave of the aNtivity and the |
| and accessories, let's take a look at how this material | | | | Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Even toiday most of the |
| helps form the pearls that are so highly valued in | | | | Mother of Pearl used in Holy Land gifts created all |
| today's society. When foreign materials drift into the | | | | over the woerld is importd from Saudi Arabia, making it |
| shell and irritates the shell lining it closes around the | | | | an autjhentic representation of the Holy Land's hitsory. |
| irritaant, cresating a bump encaseed in a luminescent | | | | |