Unweaving the history of friendship bracelets

For much of history, bonds of friendship have been strengthened and symbolized through the exchange of gifts. As Hávamál, a 10-century Norse poem, , “Friends shall gladden each other with arms and garments, / As each for himself can see; / Gift-givers’ friendships are longest found, / If fair their fates may be.” In the 16th century, Dutch theologian Erasmus with paintings, books, and ancient coins, which became a kind of currency of friendship among early modern humanists. By the 18th and 19th centuries in Ireland, the as a symbol...