African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African Americans 71
chiefdoms and displaced others. The power of the Zulu kings became entrenched through
a combination of military superiority and their control of foreign goods. The increasingly
active role played by Portuguese traders settled at Delgoa Bay probably intensified both
regional conflict and the centralizing mandate of the Zulu kings to command authority
over this artery of trade. Dingiswayo decreed commerce in foreign goods to be his
personal privilege and ordered that any of his subjects engaging in their barter be put to
death. By 1819 his successor and nephew, Shaka, had established himself as the allpowerful
ruler of a single kingdom and continued to expand the Zulu Kingdom’s
influence over the next decade. Among his strategies for centralizing regional power, all
new bead varieties were brought to his capital and reserved for his own use and
distribution.
When the first British traders settled at Port Natal in 1825, they found that glass beads
had been incorporated into a cohesive Zulu culture and played an important role in many
of the rituals, customs, and ceremonies of the Zulu nation. The varieties and colors of the
beads that people were permitted to wear reflected both their social position and personal
achievements. In men’s ceremonial dress beads were combined with feathers, animal
skins, and large copper and bronze arm rings. Strings of metal beads were often the
reward for feats of valor.
The decline and fragmentation of the Zulu monarchy during the reign of King
Cetshwayo (1872–1879) may be seen reflected in a diversification of Zulu beadwork
styles. Although Cetswhayo prevailed over the British at the famous battle of
Isandhlwana, his subsequent capture was followed by the disintegration of Zulu unity.
The ensuing lack of centralized control, greater access to beads through trade, and desire
by various groups to build independent identities for themselves led to a proliferation of
new forms of beadwork.
In contrast to the official statement made by the regalia of royalty, personal forms of
Zulu adornment designed according to a codified system of pattern and color have been
described as a language able to communicate on a number of different levels. As in
Ndebele society, Zulu beadwork commented on the wearer’s age group, marital status,
economic level, and region of origin. Beyond this, however, rectangular bead panels
made by young women for their lovers publicly acknowledged their courtship. Referred
to as “love letters,” their compositions furthermore convey specific messages across color
and linear configurations. In such instances, colored beads did not act as an alphabet but
rather as ideograms. A particular bead or combination of beads, triggered a series of
associations. In some instances these referred to universally recognizable phrases used
during courting, while in others, they were of a more intimate and idiosyncratic nature,
not overtly legible to outsiders.
Since the 1920s, a sense of Zulu ethnic, cultural, and national consciousness has been
revived under traditional leadership. Each spring young women come to the capital from
all over the kingdom to perform a national dance before their monarch and his assembled
guests. The king uses this occasion of the Umhlanga or Reed dance to speak directly to
the youth of the nation and as a platform from which he can make larger political
statements. As many as four thousand girls dressed in the finest dancing costumes are
matched and complemented by the regalia of older men and women, speakers from the
royal house, and the KwaZulu government.