The Rich Tradition Of African Beadwork

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African beadwork is rich in tradition and meaning. This craft began hundred of years ago in Africa when beads were introduced as a means of trade. Native jewelry beadwork is used for bodily adornment, to express personal information, and is abundant in symbolism. Some examples, of African handcrafted beadwork, are beaded bands worn across the chest, ornamental necklaces, neck rings and beaded aprons and dolls.

In Cameroon, a handcrafted beadwork doll is rich in symbolism. When a Fali man becomes engaged, he constructs a doll of wood and decorates it with hair, handcrafted beadwork and other objects. This doll is then given to his fiancé to be carried on her back in a baby carrier. The doll symbolizes the marriage commitment and the hopes of a child. The man creates the African beadwork doll in the gender he desires for his first child. His betrothed carries the doll on her back until the anticipated child arrives.

The Zulu, the largest tribe in Southern Africa, design handcrafted beadwork from small brightly colored beads. These beads were introduced into the area through Portuguese trading posts along the Indian Ocean. So valued were glass beads, as an item of exchange, that Dingiswayo, the first to forge the Zulu people into one cohesive tribe in the early nineteenth century, claimed their trade as his personal privilege.

Since the introduction of glass beads into Southern Africa, Zulu beadwork has been used in both traditional clothing and personal adornment. The Zulus incorporate African beadwork into their skirted aprons, cloaks, and hats. Not only is this native beadwork ornamental, but it conveys personal information, such as an individual’s marital status.

Unmarried women are clothed in leather skirts or girdles and married women wear beaded aprons over their skirts. Married women also wear a traditional hat with bands of Zulu beadwork incorporated into the crown and base. Men and unmarried women are often viewed wearing beaded bands across their chests. For adornment, beautifully crafted neck rings are made by using long tubes of cotton or tightly coiled lengths of grass to support this native beadwork.

In Zulu beadwork, colored beads have been assigned certain attributes or meanings. For example, blue conveys loneliness, green stands for grass, and white portrays purity. Because colored beads have such specific meaning, they are used to carry messages among the Zulu women and young teenagers. These messages are known as love letters, or “ucu”. By wearing certain colored African beadwork, beautiful silent messages are conveyed regarding the state of a romance. Wearing blue beads mean “I will wait for you.” White beads stand for a heart that is pure with the message, “my heart is clean and I am waiting for you.” And green beads convey, “I will wait for you until I’m as thin as a blade of grass.”

Westernization and tourism has had an impact on African beadwork. Not only are young African men and women likely to want to wear current western fashions, but tourism has changed the way native beadwork is made. Cheaper, lighter plastic beads are substituted for glass or porcelain beads, in order to mass-produce native beadwork to sell to tourists. With younger men and women wearing western clothing, older women are less likely to pass down the craft of native beadwork to young women. Thus, this art form and its cultural meaning may be lost to newer generations.

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