Burying Amber?!

I don't recall my parents being superstitious. But, in her older age, my mother often wore an amber necklace "for good health." 

She did live to be 97... in spite of having had cancer three times! (So maybe it worked!)

My cousin, the daughter of my mother's older sister, recently wrote me more about the use of amber stones in my mother's family - namely that they had to be "buried" from time to time to restore their healing properties. Here is what she wrote:

First, let me comment on ambers. Our grandparents definitely believed in their value, and there was a necklace in the family home when the children were young. Evidently, once they were used, presumably for an infection, they were buried for a while to refresh them for lack of a better term. My mother as a child took note of this. One day she came across the amber necklace and took it on herself to bury them. Unfortunately, she could never remember just where she buried them and the necklace was lost.

I actually gave her an amber necklace much later on in life. We have it now, of course. 

So interesting to discover a bit more about what life was like when my mother was a child!

I thought I'd also look amber up online. I wanted you to verify that it's really a tree sap or resin. I see that occasionally insects got trapped in the amber sap before it fossilized. Interesting!