On the other hand:
The two go together I’d think … even though they represent pretty broad perameters.
Yes, I agree with this assumption. She probably wore, as a married woman, the coins of her betrothal–the kind Jesus talked about in the parable of the lost coin. It’s still a Middle-Eastern custom for Bedouin women to wear these coins. When widowed the coins were meant to help support her and her children or to be passed on to a daughter–as I understand it. But make-up was reserved for the higher classes of women, the ones who were married to government officials or had money. Mary was a simple peasant woman who probably never even thought about wearing make-up in her cultural milieu.
You’re right. Jewelry was more ubiquitous than makeup was, and it was not a women-only thing: both men and women owned it. (Some Middle Eastern cultures have this practice of tattooing as a form of ornamentation, but that was taboo among the Jews.) Obviously the rich are gonna own a lot more bling and would wear them more often (working peasants - i.e. those who are not wealthy, which is basically everyone else - would have reserved most of the jewelry they owned for special occasions), but AFAIK the only people who wouldn’t own some form of jewelry or ornamentation are the utterly destitute.
Mary appears in glorious raiment in her apparitions because she is glorified in heaven, not because she would have dressed like that in her earthly life. As a widow she would have worn black with no ornamentation of any kind–because that was the norm for her culture. Being of the peasant class, she wouldn’t have worn make-up for special occasions. The Jews didn’t think that way. The most she may have worn was black lining around her eyes to shield them from the bright summer sun, as many middle-eastern people did at the time. Mary didn’t go to parties–she would have attended weddings and other family affairs, but she wasn’t of the class that threw parties because they didn’t entertain dignitaries at their gatherings in the way ladies of the rich might have done.
Why is outside beauty “very” important? (Don’t get me wrong; I think Our Blessed Mother was probably beautiful, and those who have seen apparitions of her describe her as beautiful, with black hair, which you can’t see much of because it’s covered, white and blue clothing, and a lovely, sweet, gentle face.)
I didn’t “get you wrong”
I know, it sounded kind of shallow to say outside beauty is very important, but I guess it is my weakness. I guess I compare it to a flower. God made beautiful things so we could enjoy them. He wouldn’t have wanted, I don’t think, to make a flower some awful-looking thing. If something is meant to be beautiful, He’s most times made it beautiful on the outside too. As for the saints, I remember reading about many of them all throughout my growing up. Some of them even cut off their curls beause they were afraid it would lead to vanity. Some were beautiful on the outside and tried to make themselves so they weren’t because they thought it would humble them even more. That was good of them, but, small confession…I could just never do it.
God made weeds, too, that most people find unattractive and kill on their lawns. Weeds are considered to mar the beauty of a green lawn, however, God loves the weeds as much as he loves the lilies.I didn’t “get you wrong”