Nigerian Bracelets and Bangles

African Beads

They are made from a diverse array of materials. Some of the oldest beads were made from natural materials such as stones, clay, plant materials such as palm nuts and bamboo stems and animal materials such as ostrich eggshells. The colours and texture of these materials are retained and combined in different ways as necklaces and bracelets.

A traditional necklace

Archeologists have found beaded necklaces and beads buried with chiefs and kings in ancient African graves. Wearing and most important owning and old African jewelry or bead is believed to provide wisdom, hope, luck and well-being to its owner.

Currency

Beads and handmade jewellery have played an important role in Africans life and in the court life of African kingdoms, being valued sometimes as currency and sometimes as an artistic creation.

Clay, shells...

The materials used to make those African products have varied over time, and include stone, clay, paper, metal, wood, shells and glass.

Nok Culture

Bead-making is an ancient craft universally practised among the various ethnic groups of Nigeria dating to antiquity. Nok culture provides evidence of the earliest civilization in Nigeria with some of its terra-cotta figures depicting human beings, wearing what are presumably strings of stone beads around the necks, wrists and ankles.

Tribal Jewelry

Tribal African jewelry is dependant upon three things: what is available locally, what has been traded and bartered for over the centuries and what the customs and traditions are in the different cultures.

The Lost Wax

For example, the lost wax method of bronze casting in Nigeria and Benin started by the Yoruba in the 13th century has produced very intricate modelling of bronze pieces.

More Beading

These beaded objects were created in varying shapes, color schemes and also came in a variety of beaded designs.
Some of the most spectacular beaded objects in Africa came from the crowns of the Yoruba kings of Nigeria.

Hausa Beads

The Hausa people in Northern Nigeria and parts of West Africa are particularly known for dominating the bead trade where they travel extensively to locate beads in villages, modify them, and sell them to local and foreign merchants.

A Lot of Handiwork

Local bead making is often by hand and is therefore labor-intensive process. This leads to variability in the appearance of individual beads even within a single strand.

Mythical Significance

Today, beads have played an enormous role in the culture, fashion, economy, and artistic expression of the African people. African tribal beads and glass beads also hold a special mythical significance as well.

Red Coral Beads

The significance of red coral beads by the Oba, Chiefs and peoples of the Benin Kingdom cannot be overemphasized. The wearing of beads by the Oba and Chiefs in the Benin Empire was not only royal and cultural but was also religious.

The Bini Culture

Coral beads as a necklace and hair accessory in her traditional wedding. The picture shows how they can be used to adorn head gears worn by Nigeria women of the Bini culture as a way to enhance their beauty.