The girl with the beaded waist
As a child, one of my nicknames translates into “the beaded waist.” My mom put beads on my waist because my buttocks, apparently, stuck out too much, and the beads were supposed to help minimize this intrusive perkiness. So, with my beads, whenever I run, you could hear the noise from the friction between the beads. While I soon stopped wearing the beads, I am still quite attached to that nickname. So it was no surprise that starting in my junior high school years to the present time, I resumed wearing waist-beads (albeit off and on).
The beads that I have now are yellow and black, and they have been on my waist for many months, thanks to the strong strings and clasps. I am always on the lookout for exotic beads. I even have some semi-precious beads collecting in a bottle, waiting for someone to string them into waist-beads that can withstand being on my waist for 24 hours a day, for years.
I feel strangely attached to these beads, which now seem like a part of my body.
Technorati tag: author blog beads
# posted by Rosemary Esehagu @
11:24 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Hi. I found your blog in a search for 'waist beads' because I'm thinking about getting some for myself.
Reading about your mother's reason for putting beads on you was interesting... please don't find this offensive, but do waist beads actually modify body shape?
Before I get waist beads, I'm trying to learn about their meanings and uses. So any feedback you can offer me would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
pVI
Hello, Peculiar virtue.
No, I don't think waist beads modify your shape. Like any good jewelry, they can enhance or beautify... What makes them special (and not just jewelry) is the meaning you attach to them. There are reasons why my waist beads are a permanent part of my waist. Waist beads can have different meanings or values (e.g. ancestral or traditional, sentimental or nostalgic, and/or any other value you desire them to have). The important thing is not why you wear them, but that wearing them has some value to you.
Honestly, waist beads do not have "several" meanings. There is one basic reasoning behind waist beads contrary to belief today. Simply put, they are chasity beads and a traditional way of signifying abstinence. A woman or girl with the beads is supposed to keep them from sight from a man until she is married. They are part of west african traditional culture and have been distorted from its original meaning, sadly. Now its for fashion or "protection" or "healing" or "body shaping" and many other incorrect meanings. Think back, way, way back to when people had "clean minds".
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