Bead making and Ornamentation in Nigeria

By APPOLOS OZIOGU IBEBABUCHI

Bead-making is an ancient craft universally practised among the various ethnic groups of Nigeria
dating to antiquity. Nok culture provides evidence of the earliest civilization in Nigeria with
some of its terra-cotta figures depicting human beings, wearing what are presumably strings of
stone beads around the necks, wrists and ankles.
It is also said that a large quantity of beads was recovered from the tomb of a priest-king dated
9th century from the Igbo-Ukwu excavation. At Ilesha in the present Osun State, a necklace of
red stone beads was among the treasures excavated at the tomb of an Oba.
At Ile-Ife too, some archaeological finds have been uncovered. It is the red beads that the British
archaeologist, Leo Frobenius saw in 1909 at the archaeological site at Wagadougon which he
called The beads of Illifians. Ile-Ife has been known as a famous city for bead making.
It is said that the wife of Oduduwa, Olokun Senaide established the art of glass bead-making in
the ancient city of the Ile-Ife, and Igbo-Olokun (Olokun Grave) is known to be her work-shop
which covers some acres of land as long as 12 acres. Bida is noted for its flourishing beadmaking industries for years. In Bida, craftsmen are famous for glass beads. They make the glass
beads from discarded coloured glass which they melt down and form into beads.
They also make their glass beads from a mixture of quartz, sand, chalk and natron. Besides Bida,
cities like Ilorin, Kano and Vere in Adamawa are famous for local bead-making in Nigeria.
The method of boring the beads is said to have originated from old Oyo, and it requires a special
skill. It involves a grinding stone. Thus, the hard red stone is bored into holes necessary for
stringing up the beads. Once the beads are bored, they are polished. Polishing the beads demands
some skill and patience. The red stone beads have different names such as Agate, Akun and
Jasper.
Today, bead workers use old jars, plates and bottles of medicines, pomade and drinks to make
beads. They may be more than one or two or three bead workers in a small round house with
triangular windows as their workshop. They prepare the fire and make it hot enough to melt the
glass.
The glass is first of all heated in a clay bowl until it becomes sticky and then a blob of halfmelted glass is put on to an iron rod which is rotated with the left hand and the glass is shaped
with iron tongs held in the right hand. Sometimes, the bead worker adds glass of a contrasting
colour to make the outside of the beads to form strips.
Beads function as an important part of personal ornamentation. They are used for decorative as
well as protective purposes like amulets or charms and as a sign of social status among the chiefs
and kings.

For many decades, beads have been used in Nigeria by people of various ethnic groups. They are
used as necklaces and bracelets. In the past if not to the present, waist-beads are used as an
important form of adornment for women and girls.
Little girls may wear nothing else but waist-beads till they reach the age of puberty. Women too,
married or single wear waist-beads under their wrappers or gowns to emphasize their hips as
generously proportioned hip is assumed to enhance feminine beauty. Female artists, performing
certain cultural dances also wear costumes that have waist-beads as a prominent feature.