Sunday, April 25, 2010

The History of Waist Beads

Bin Bin = waistbeads - Origin Senegal West Africa
Jel-Jelli = waistbeads - Origin Senegal
Giri-Giri = waistbeads - Origin Nigeria
Ileke idi - waistbeads - Origin Nigeria
Jigida = waistbeads - Origin Nigeria
Yomba = waistbeads - Origin Nigeria
Djalay Djalay = waistbeads - Origin Chad


Waistbeads are an age old African tradition and are worn for vast reasons and purposes to celebrate femininity, fertility, healing, spirituality, power, balancing, attracting and keeping a mate, rites of passage, rejuvenation, initiations, first menses, energy, body shaping, to promote good blood circulation, sexual enhancers, and protection amongst other things.

Waistbeads can be anointed with special oils and herbs that will be absorbed into the skin for healing purposes.

Traditionally waistbeads are worn under clothing by African women but have also been worn outside of the clothing in some parts of Africa. In the modern world waistbeads are worn boldly outside of clothing against bare mid drifts as a fashion statement.

Waistbeads can be made of bone beads, shells, gemstones, glass beads, clay beads, pearls, brass beads, charms or a combination of them all to symbolize a woman or girls status in life. Waistbeads should be worn below the belly and can be a single or multiple strands. There is no age limit for women who can wear them nor is there a size limit. All my waistbeads are created with love, thoughtfulness, and are one of a kind. They come in all sizes, and can be made to order just for you.







You can find my waistbeads at AfriqueLaChic

3 comments:

  1. I couldn't find your waist beads on your website. Are you still selling them?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice waist belts. I like wearing waist belt jewellery on traditional occasions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jewelry looks it's best when cleaned. Properly clean your jewelry before showing it around. If you do not know the 100% correct way to clean your piece of jewelry let a professional jeweler clean it for you. az jewelry stores

    ReplyDelete