The Elephant as Jewelry.

The year...1874. The place...The United States. The person...Thomas Nast ...political cartoonist...who creates a cartoon entitled "Republican Votes" under a picture of an elephant. It is this cartoon that causes the elephant to become the symbol of the Republican Party. Nast is also instrumental in creating the symbol for the Democratic party. Why he chooses an ass is a discussion for another time and another type of Tidbit.

So...is this cartoon the reason we wear elephants as jewelry? Well... maybe it's one reason. But there are other reasons. Many many other reasons. In Africa...rings and bracelets are made of elephant hair in order to ward away evil spells. The elephant's very size calls into being that it be used as a good luck charm. Before they had tanks...before they used horses for war...they put armor on elephants and used them as shields to advance armies.

The association between man and elephants goes back to the beginning of things. According to Hindu legend...the Creator once chanted over the two halves of a cosmic egg from whence there were subsequently produced eight cow elephants and eight bull elephants...all of whom had the power of flight. Alas...they lost that power when they once landed on a Banyan tree and crushed the dwelling of a hermit who lived beneath it. The hermit ...understandably unhappy at the roosting elephants who squished his home...cursed them and caused them to forever lose their power of flight.

So important an animal was the elephant in Indian life that an island not too far from Bombay was called Elephanta. So important an animal is and was the elephant that we make charms of it...and necklaces of it... and brooches of it...and statuettes of it. We write stories about it. Anyone remember Dumbo? It's a political symbol. It's a symbol of strength. It dwarfs Pinocchio in the nose department...perhaps at one point in it's historical career it was one heck of a liar.

How can we not wear on our lapels the icon of an animal that the people of Tanzania thought was once a man who was cheated out of all his limbs except for his right arm which became his trunk? How can we not wear around our necks the image of an animal the Ashanti of Ghana thought was a human chief from an ancient past? How can we not wear on our wrists the image of an animal that lived in Indian myth...in African myth...in ancient European myth...and even in biblical tales as they relate to what is believed by some to be the Behemoth?

The elephant...as ubiquitous in mythology as it is in jewelry. Ladies and gentlemen of my world...I bring to you...the elephant necklace... a diamond studded procession of pavé pachyderms crossing the tropical grasslands under the searing heat of a noonday sun. It's a complete herd my friends...adults and children alike...on their way to who knows where ...a steady stream parading its majesty for the world to see as they hang elegantly on the neck of that beautiful creature called Woman.

For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits...may I direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will scroll down the table menu till you get to the box that says Tidbits...and inside the box where it says Tidbit Graphics...click on the link that says: Elephant...where you will see a rendering of our diamond pavé pachyderms.

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