Ashabi
Picking up one of the traditional beads common these
days, you would notice that most of them are made of plastic. This is because
the uniquely African glass beads paved the way for plastic beads. This
underscores the hold the colonial influence had on Africans. One could ask the
question of how these beads were made in pre-colonial times. At least
technology hadn't advanced to the level we have now, whereby rubbers could be
processed into beads or glasses into those tiny beads. However, beads are
traditionally part of our culture. How and where those beads were used in those
days made from? Or did they come with
the trans-Saharan trade and trans- Atlantic slave trade or did our forefathers
find innovative ways to make beads? Let's go down the history lane of the
traditional Beads in Nigeria.
Historically, those plastic beads you now see as
traditional beads were actually made of glass. Plastic beads were never in
existence in the ancient Yoruba Kingdom consisting of both the Oyo Empire, the
Benin Empire, and the like. Beads used then were made out of glasses. Although
no one knows exactly when the wearing of beads became the culture of our
forefathers it wasn't until the trans-Saharan trade and trans-Atlantic trade
that our forefathers started wearing beads or making them. They had their own
innovative way of making those beads out of glasses.
Currently, discoveries have been made that the
earliest glass beads in Nigeria were produced at Igbo-Olokun, a sacred historic
site where the Olokun goddess is worshipped situated at Ile-Ife. In 2011-2012,
archaeologists found a glass manufacturing site at Igbo-Olokun with glass beads
dating back to the 11th century way before the slave trade began. The technique
and materials used for the beads; lime and alumina were not being used anywhere
else in Africa during that period. India is the only known place that made
drawn glass beads but the distance between Nigeria and India is quite wide,
thus, archaeologists propose that it was an independent innovation of the
Yoruba.
However, upon the advent of the transatlantic slave
trade, production came to an end, since slaves were traded for beads to the
Europeans who realized the deep fascination the people had for beads. However,
the powder glass trade beads brought by the Europeans were altered by the
people to suit their taste. These beads are what we know as Iyun (Orange
coloured), Segi (Blue-green coloured), Akun, Erin (Ivory) and so on.
Over time, plastic beads have become popularized
over glass beads. Now, they are mostly worn at ceremonies and events. However,
according to Vanguard,’ cities like Bida, Ilorin, Kano and Vere in Adamawa' still
make local glass beads out of coloured glass.
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