Eloquent Elegance

Beadwork in the ZULU cultural tradition.


Those who have travelled in South Africa and spent some of their time in the province of KwaZulu/Natal, might have been fortunate enough to have seen something of the colourful beadwork for which the Zulu in that part of the country are well known. Decorative beadwork is sold at many outlets in the region and in major centres throughout the countery, where some of these beaded trinkets have been offered to souvenir huners as "Zulu love letters". To appreciate the true significance of traditional Zulu beadwork, however, one has to understand how effectively the Zulu have integrated social values into their arts and crafts. Traditional colours, colour combinations and patterns are still found in modern Zulu beadwork but the real eloquence is rapidly subsiding under the pressures of urbanization and culture change.

In the World Wide Web page that you are about to view, Hilgard S. Schoeman, a nationally recognized expert, explains the often misinterpreted issues surrounding an art form that has become increasingly commercialized. He writes as follows:

    "Traditional Zulu beadwork, arguably one of the most singular examples of this craft, was at one time far more than a merely decorative art of weaving small glass beads into aesthetically pleasing patterns. First-hand empirical research has shown that these designs were a surprisingly articulate vehicle of communication that helped to regulate behaviour between individuals of opposite gender."

    "Something of this has filtered through to traders, early missionaries and others as half-truths which, supported by poorly substantiated assumptions, have led to a popular perception of Zulu "love letters". This description has been indiscriminately applied to insignificant beaded trinkets, sometimes tagged with simplistic interpretations of colour symbolism, which curio dealers have been selling to uninformed tourists in search of souvenirs."

    "Such items have very little connection with beadwork that still fulfilled its social function when research was conducted in the traditional heartland of the Zulu in what is now the province of KwaZulu-Natal, some thirty years ago. The facts were assembled and subjected to detailed analysis from 1964 to 1968 and the results were subsequently published in scientific journals and popular-scientific periodicals. These findings have since been revised and refined to reveal something of the informal yet actively institutionalised code that formed the basis of this unique art form."

The Web Site aims to cover most major aspects of traditional Zulu beadwork design. Based on the formal analysis of sirsthand research at a time when traditional principles were still widely applied, we belive this to be the most comprehensively informed WWW site of its kind. Available topics are as follows :

A brief history of the Zulu Nation
A brief history of Traditional African BeadCraft
The Zulu Beadwork Language(Technical)
How to get hold of true Zulu Beadwork

This site also hosts a collection of illustrations showing examples of traditional Zulu beadwork. These are arranged in specific collections, each example accompanied by a brief description supplied by Dr. Schoeman. We will be extending the number of illustrations as these come to hand. Currently these include:

Traditional Necklaces
Adornment of the head
Adornment of the chest, waist and lower body
Adornment of the limbs
Items worn by Izangoma(specialists in traditional magic)

(C) Stan Schoeman 1996 Pages hosted by Marques Systems.