Married Women as Custodians of Tradition
Arts and Crafts in Rural South Africa
Among the Ndebele, and Bantwane and Baköpa, older married women still tend to produce their own beadwork. But today many use this skill more commonly to make jewellery and other items for outside buyers.
To this day, the practice among rural married women of wearing beaded capes on special occasions remains fairly common throughout South Africa.
In some cases, these capes include inherited beadwork strips.
Over time, some women also add new strips to their capes, which for this reason are often very heavy.
Ndebele women wear a great variety of beadwork and other forms of adornment on special occasions. This includes izigolwani, thick beaded hoop made from grass, that are first adopted by girls of marriageable age at the conclusion of their initiation.
On special occasions, Bantwane women wear multiple beaded hoops around their necks.
Unlike the single neck hoops worn by Ndebele women, these examples are comparatively thin.
While beadwork continues to play a crucial role in underlining social status, notably the age and gender of the wearer, other items like the leather skirts worn by married Zulu women serve to reinforce these distinctions.
Since the mid-1970s, when local dealers began to promote the work of rural beadmakers, it has become common for museums and private collectors to display the beautifully beaded blankets made by Ndebele women alongside paintings by fine artists. The recognition afforded these beadmakers is consistent with the fact that art lovers no longer endorse earlier distinctions between notions of art and craft.
Historically, women often used beadwork panels to decorate household items, especially woven grass containers and the lids of beer pots. Tsonga beadwork includes the use of distinctive colour relationships and the use of multiple beading techniques. These techniques enhance the textural differences between different beadwork sections.
By
Professor Sandra Klopper
