The world in jewelry enchanted

The language that Masai ornaments speak

Sparkling with a fever of colors, Masai jewelry is, contrary to all appearances, not just a purely decorative collection of multicolored beads. Admiring these intricate, ornamental works of art, however, it is in vain to strain the eyes and concentrate the mind - without a legend in this camouflaged map of meanings it is impossible to discern! To the outsider, rainbow necklaces, beaded headbands or neck rings are nothing more than eye-catching, purely decorative ornaments. For the Masai, these small, colorful balls are constellations capable of describing their entire reality.

Inhabiting Kenya and northern Tanzania, the Masai herders are one of the most recognizable African ethnic groups. Leaping warrior dances and checkered, colorful robes, the indispensable presence of herds of cattle, the indivisible reign of red ... and, of course, strings of multicolored beads. These are a handful of the first associations commonly associated with this picturesque, semi-nomadic people.

Eye-catching, beaded "jewels" have adorned Masai bodies since ancient times. Once upon a time, before artificial luminaries arrived on the African mainland, the beads were made directly from what the surroundings could offer. Thus, all kinds of sticks, shells, seeds and blades of dried grass were ideal in this role. Later, in the early 19th century, natural materials were effectively supplanted by the invasion of glass and plastic beads. Beyond the material, however, nothing has changed - modern local handicraft is the same as it was centuries ago, only that today it is a threaded story of local life.

Glass ornaments are worn here by every representative of the local community, but the preparation of these decorations has always rested in the nimble hands of local women. They are the ones who, in the busyness of everyday activities - between cooking or fetching water, between gathering firewood or taking care of the little ones, or even building shacks - usually in the evenings and necessarily in groups indulge in these artistic pastimes.

However, it is not the case that this ethnic jewelry can be created according to what fantasy dictates. Masai ornaments are a kind of open book, which only a generally accepted set of rules and principles can make legible to the social world. It is the specific combination of patterns and colors that can betray age, marital status or social situation. It is the duly composed configuration of beads that can express the devotion and love that Masai herdsmen have for the herds of cattle that keep them. Red is the color of strength and unity; yellow is fertility and growth; white is purity and health, it is cow's milk with all its nourishing, life-giving power. Blue is the color of the sky, but also a sign of energy because of the rain it offers; green symbolizes the earth capable of providing food for people and farm animals; and orange represents friendship and welcoming warmth.

The Masai certainly have no shortage of jewelry. It adorns ears, heads, lavishly wraps wrists and even feet, and generously adorns necks. Not surprisingly, however, the most impressive pieces are those worn by the bride on her wedding day. These fabulously ornate collars - given to daughters by their mothers on the occasion of their marriage - are leather round disks lavishly covered with colorful beads. However, they are also peculiar village maps! The very shape, of this specific necklace, is supposed to refer to the Masai settlement, always erected on the basis of a circle, while each of the geometric figures in the center represents a specific household. The center of the collar is the hole through which the girl puts her head, the center of the village is the square where the animals are herded every night. Wearing this wedding ornament, the bride thus symbolically carries her entire settlement on her body, while the number of colored strings attached to the collar determines the number of cattle that the groom's family is to give as a gift to the bride's family.

The collars, not only those for weddings, but also those donned for dancing, are thus almost settlements' blueprints, the brightness of the colors and the level of complexity of the patterns are in turn an indicator of social status. You can look for age groups here, as there are beaded pendants typical only of a particular generation, and you can finally - by the dominant color - discern which women love sunsets. This peculiar, informative system, while obvious to the Masai, may cause us a little consternation. As it turns out, jewelry products are sometimes fluent in their own language!