Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Jewellery
Jewellery is a West African tradition of extraordinary variety and, like all West African art
forms, jewellery traditionally serves a purpose beyond the purely decorative.
Few jewellery items carry a wealth of associations quite like the humble bead, which is
elevated to high art in this part of the world. Beads are often used as objects representing
spiritual values and can play a major role in community rituals such as birth, circumcision,
marriage and death. The availability of European products, which arrived via trans-Saharan
trade caravans long before Europeans themselves, accelerated during the colonial period,
altering the bead-making tradition significantly. Beads are now more likely to be made of
glass, after local jewellers started copying the highly decorative
millefiori
trading beads
from Venice, which featured flowers, stripes and mosaic designs. Discarded bottles and
medicine jars were pulverised into a fine powder to be remade into glass beads, and the
Krobo in Ghana still melt powdered glass in terracotta moulds. In a slight variation, the
Nupe in central Nigeria wind molten glass on long iron rods to make beads and bracelets.
Referred to as
bakim-mutum
by bead traders (most of whom sell glass beads by weight,
hence their other name, 'pound beads'), beads are commonly worn by village chiefs and
elders as a sign of power and wealth.
Iron is no longer smelted in the Dogon Country; many Dogon blacksmiths now use iron taken from aban-
doned motor vehicles, which withstands heating and shaping better than new iron.
A variety of other materials are used in Africa for making beads, including coral, shell,
copal, amazonite, silver, gold and brass. In Mali you'll see large amber beads and ornate
gold earrings worn by Fula women. The Dogon also treasure amber, and use it in their
necklaces, bracelets and pendants. They also use beads made of stone and terracotta incised
with geometric patterns.
Rings in West Africa can be stunning. In Burkina Faso, look for Bobo bronze rings,
which often have intricate designs, including a tick bird, a warrior on horseback or a
chameleon. In Mali, older Dogon men wear large bronze rings as a sign of status. Cowrie
shells are often used to decorate jewellery; for a long time these shells were used as money
in many areas of Africa.
In most areas of the region, the preferred metal for jewellery is gold; the Ashanti are
famous for their goldwork in jewellery, ornaments and staffs. In and near the Sahara,
however, the Tuareg and Moors prefer silver. The Tuareg are renowned for their intricate
filigree silverwork in jewellery and in the decoration on the handles of their daggers.
Tuareg men and women often wear silver crosses as pendants around their necks; in Niger,
