Although it has always been an element of culture in the African custom, today, many more people have fallen in love with the idea of having it on or having someone they love wear them.
Waist beads are adornments or decorative pieces made from cowries, precious shells, beads, pearls, or small metal strung onto a wire or fish line (not the one used for fishing). These waist beads come in different lengths, waist sizes, colours, and shapes and could be worn in single strands or multiple strands as they sit beautifully on the waist of the wearer.
As earlier stated, waist beads have been a part of African culture, especially West Africa’s, for the longest time. In the olden days, waist beads were worn as a sign of spirituality, femininity, sensuality, growth, and fertility.
When a baby is born, the baby is traditionally beautified with waist beads, and once the baby is grown up to about a year, if he is a boy, he stops wearing them, while the girl continues to wear them. The young girl will continue to wear the beads on her waist till puberty; she automatically outgrows them and is given new ones as she transitions into womanhood.
In some other cultures, the waist beads are worn for protection from the ‘evil eye,’ As such, precious beads invoked with charms are added to give maximum protection.
One thing that is common to every wearer worldwide is that waist beads serve as a form of body shaper. They are excellent tools for monitoring weight gain and loss. A little weight loss or gain is easily detected; once the wearer gains weight, the beads easily roll up and eventually break, and if the wearer loses weight, the beads roll down and become so loose that they finally fall off.
