We recently had a question from a fan of our Wacky Wednesday radio show who called in to ask about jewelry that contains the blood of a loved one. What is this all about?

It wasn’t hard to find information on this macabre trend, which started in the 1990’s when Angelina Jolie and then-husband Billy Bob Thornton created “blood necklaces” for each other.

As Thornton explains in this article, Jolie purchased clear lockets for the two of them and “thought it would be interesting and romantic if we took a little razor blade and sliced our fingers, smeared a little blood on these lockets, and you wear it around your neck just like you wear your son or daughter's baby hair in one.”

However, when the press got wind of it, they blew it so out of proportion “it sounded like we were wearing a bucket of blood around our necks,” he complained.

The idea stuck. As of today, it’s easy to find “blood jewelry” merchants who sell pendants, bracelets, pins, and rings, all of which can be filled with the blood of a loved one.

As this jewelry provider, named “Remain Eternal” explains: “Blood is the essence of life. We swear blood oaths to symbolize deeply held commitments or become ‘blood brothers’ to represent a bond that can never be broken. When you carry the blood of a loved one with you, it represents a magical bond between two souls.”

Another blood jewelry merchant – who refers to this product line as “blood inclusion jewelry” likens the trend to “maidens of old giving knights a lock of hair woven into a bracelet to ride off into battle with.”

The same site also provides breastmilk rings, pendants and charms, as well as umbilical chord jewelry.

“Babies’ cords are full of blood and although I usually include the whole piece of cord, I can just grind the blood if you prefer. This piece contains the entire umbilical cord,” the site explains.

As if this isn’t bizarre enough, imagine wearing a necklace that contains blood from your last menstrual cycle! One of the pieces featured on their site contains menstrual blood which is then mixed with “dragon’s blood-red resin sparkle mix with flecks of dried blood as glitter on top.”

Baby memorial jewelry contains baby’s breastmilk, cremation ashes, and sometimes tiny pieces of hair.

Of course, cremation ashes can also be used to fill the vials instead of blood.

Although there is no official prohibition against the use of blood jewelry, the Church requires the ashes of loved ones to be buried in a sacred place.

“By burying the bodies of the faithful, the Church confirms her faith in the resurrection of the body, and intends to show the great dignity of the human body as an integral part of the human person whose body forms part of their identity,” the Vatican states in a 2016 directive.

“In order that every appearance of pantheism, naturalism or nihilism be avoided, it is not permitted to scatter the ashes of the faithful departed in the air, on land, at sea or in some other way, nor may they be preserved in mementos, pieces of jewelry or other objects.”

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