Ntshengula / Snuff container

A beaded snuff container from Transkei Eastern Cape, attached to a string made of clay beads and multi colored glass beads. Snuff containers are usually cylindrical in shape made from various mediums, depending on the tribe. They are used to store tobacco, an imortant element of everyday life. They are used for communal festivities and seen as sacred public artifacts. Snuff containers were extremly personal possesions to Nguni people. Snuff taking was a social institutionof surpassing importance. Before engaging in a debate it was usual to take a good pinch to clear the brain. Snuff accompanied family offerings of meat and beer to the ancestors if one was asking for children.