African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African Americans 49
admires a particular young man, and regrets that he has not asked to marry her; or a
woman can make a formalized declaration about her relationships or her position within
the community. One source of information, a Zulu princess Magogo Buthelezi said, “to
appreciate and understand these letters it is necessary to have a sound knowledge of the
people’s mode of living, their psychology, traditions, folklore etc.” She also said, “The
modern illiterate miss will also use her own designs and colors to mislead her parents and
rivals.” Beadwork messages of this sort were very specific to one particular area; outside
that area, they would have a different meaning, or even none at all. As literacy becomes
more widespread in KwaZulu, the use of beadwork to convey messages is dying out. It
seems that to “read” one of those pieces of beadwork, one has to take the center as the
starting point; this produces symmetry in the color arrangements, which is important in
any interpretation, and also has a pleasing aesthetic effect.
In a contemporary bead production
factory the beads are still made by
hand. Kazuri Beads Company,
Nairobi, Kenya. Photo © Hal Noss,
www.halnoss.com
Manufacture
There are two primary methods of making glass beads. They may be wound: here a small
amount of glass is wound onto a wire mandrel or rod to form the desired bead, which is
allowed to cool before being slipped off the wire. These may be recognized by minute air
bubbles, which go horizontally to the perforation. The other, commoner sorts of beads are
drawn beads; where a gather of glass is drawn out to form a long tube, which is then cut
up into the required lengths and finished off. The small seed beads are all made in this
way, as well as beads with longitudinal stripes; the layered chevron beads are a
spectacular type of drawn bead. With drawn beads, the air bubbles run vertically, parallel
to the perforation.
There are several distinct types of beads. Chevron beads, which range in size from 0.3
to 2 inches, are made of layers of white, red, and blue glass in a star-shaped mould; the