Zulu love letters

 

 Thursday 28 March 2013

 

 

The Zulu tribe of South Africa use beaded messages to communicate with their lovers. They achieve this by using symbols and colours that act as language and grammer that is deeply embedded in their culture.

 

I described in my last post the importance of the triangle shape and its position in beadwork. The colours used are another important way of communicating. Each colour has positive and negative meanings depending on how they are used within the beadwork. For example green in its postive context means contentment and bliss but the negative meaning is illness. Below is a list of colours with their positive and negative meanings.

 

          Positive                                                             Negative

 

blue - faithfulness                                                hostility, ill feelings

red - strong emotion                                            impatience, anger

black - marriage                                                  death, despair, sorrow

white - love                                                          no negative meaning

yellow - wealth                                                    malignant, evil

pink - promise                                                      poverty, hardship

A popular item of zulu beadwork exchanged between lovers is the Zulu love letter.

Zulu maidens bead special messages of love and affection and give it to their lovers. The boys wear them around their neck or pinned to their clothing. Each colour conveys a different meaning.
Red - Intense love
White - Purity and peace
Yellow - Jealousy
Green - I pine for you
Black - I am in depair as you have rejected my love
Blue - If I were a dove, I would fly to see you
Pink - Do you love me?

How do you communicate with your lover? Do you have a special language that is only known between the two of you?

 

Today many love letter pins are sold to the tourist trade and made to represent the flags of countries or to mark a special occasion.

 

Until next time,

 

www.amahlejewellery.com

 

 



Zulu people communicate through their beadwork

Thursday 21 March 2013

It's officially spring here in the northern hemisphere but spring has decided to be fashionably late. It is still so darn cold. I am wrapped up in layers of clothes and getting slightly fed up of wearing gloves and scarves all the time. So today I'm wearing these lovely beaded zulu stretch bangles. I love the colours and patterns and how the colours relate to and influence each other.

 

 

 

The Zulu African tribe of South Africa are well known for their exquisite and brightly coloured beadwork. Their jewellery is very unique and distinctive in its colours, designs and patterns.

Zulu beadwork is an integral part of the Zulu culture and is an important way for the Zulu people to communicate with each other and usually relates to courtship and marriage.

Many people including myself are not aware of the meanings behind the colours and shapes found on bracelets, necklaces, pendants and other pieces of jewellery.

 

A shape most often used by the Zulu in their beadwork is the triangle. The three corners of the triangle represent Father, Mother, Child. The way triangles are positioned in the beadwork also communicate different meanings. For example, a triangle facing downwards signifies an unmarried woman while a triangle facing upwards signifies an unmarried man. If they are joined along the base to create a diamond shape, this communicates a married woman. If the two apexes of the triangle are joined, this signifies a married man.

 

 

 

 Bead colours also communicate different meanings and can have positive and negative meanings. The seven main colours used in Zulu beadwork are green, blue, red, black, white, yellow and pink.

 

Not only is zulu beadwork beautiful but also very fascinating in how beads are able to communicate a wide variety of meanings.

 

Next time....the positve and negative meanings of colours in beadwork.

 

 

Until then

 

www.amahlejewellery.com