Elaborate beadwork first appeared as a Yoruba artform in the late 19th century, when European glass seed beads were imported into Nigeria. Soon afterwards, labor-intensive bead-covered items such as bags, footwear, knife sheaths, sashes, and belts became symbols of wealth, power, and well-being for the Yoruba ruling class. As high-ranking Yoruba bestowed beadwork items on the diviners and other religious specialists who served them, beadwork also became symbolic of protection, of status, and of connections to the supernatural, spiritual realm.

As with this belt, diviners often wear beaded items that wrap around the head, waist or neck, symbolically and literally enclosing the wearer to protect them from negative forces. This belt is identifiable as the belt of a diviner because of its yellow diamonds and the central, red face with scarification marks of vertical black lines underneath the eyes. Yellow beads symbolize wisdom in Yoruba society, and diamonds symbolize the Yoruba cosmogram. The red, scarified face, meanwhile, is the face of Eshu, the traditional Yoruba deity who serves as a messenger and intermediary between the mortal world of humans and the spiritual world. Researched and conserved by Alexis Henson

 

For more information, you may contact the researcher(s) noted in the title of this exhibit entry, or Dr. Billie Follensbee, the professor of the course, at BillieFollensbee@MissouriState.edu