When my sister and I were shopping last month we came across a fantastic gift idea at a store called Celestial Awakening…2-inch tear bottles of clear or colored glass encased with metalwork and finished in gold, nickel, pewter, antique copper, silver, or brass and with matching display trays or metal/mirrored trays…tear bottles inside mini domes…and tiny tear bottle/vial pendants.
Never having seen them before, I had no idea tear bottles (symbolic gifts of deep emotion) have been a treasured gift for three millennia! –A gift given to another to honor and cherish another person.
There are legends abounding in traditions and cultures around the world. In ancient Roman, Egyptian and Middle Eastern societies, mourners captured their tears and buried them with loved ones to show respect and affection.
During the 19th century Victorian era mourners would allow their tears to fall in decorative bottles. When they evaporated bereavement would end, but the bottle remained as a token of eternal devotion.
And while some bottles held real tears of joy, sorrow or forgiveness, others symbolized these feelings.
Today tear bottles are given to honor the tears of life passages, transitions and rituals…to strengthen friendships, to mend relationships, to ask forgiveness, to show sympathy, to remember, to honor, to heal and to celebrate joy and unconditional love.
Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
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