A journey from baby to grandma

Jewellery throughout life

Published March 08, 2024

Jewellery will tell you so much about a woman’s journey through life: from infancy, through adolescence, to adulthood. Some jewellery is only worn by unmarried girls, others by married women only while other pieces indicate motherhood. So how does that work?

Ethnic jewellery and children

For children, jewellery often doubles as an amulet. Child mortality used to be very high in the past, and children would not grow beyond their first year in a sad number of cases. They were believed to be killed by jinn, who were envious of a mother’s most cherished hope. Many amulets are made specifically for children. See a case of protection against such an evil jinn in this article.

Hyena’s claws set in silver, coral beads, bells and tassels are all used to protect the child. A very often seen amulet is a blue glass bead, pinned on the inside of the child’s clothing, or on its cap. An example is in the gallery above: click to enlarge the photos and see a variety of jewellery for kids.

Apart from amulets, jewellery for children also formed the basis of their very own ‘piggy bank’. On festive occasions, or when there was money to spare, a girl would receive small pieces of jewellery.

Ethnic jewellery and adolescence

Jewellery is also used in transition stages. When a girl becomes eligible for marriage, she will start to wear jewellery that communicated her status.

Girls in the Siwa oasis, Egypt, receive a special pendant when they are eligible for marriage: the round silver disc known as adrim or ‘virgin’s disc’. This heavy disc, finely decorated with geometrical designs, fish, birds or floral motifs, is worn until marriage. Persistent tradition has it that these discs would be thrown in the local well in the oasis after marriage: instead of throwing such a valuable item away, it was presented to a younger sister or female relative. [1]

Ethnic jewellery and marriage

Marriage is also clearly marked by special jewellery. Both the event itself and the married phase afterwards see a distinct use of jewellery: a married woman wears more, and different, jewellery than an unmarried girl. See more about dowry jewellery in this post.

It is important to realise that the transition from an unmarried to a married existence is not only visible in jewellery, but equally clearly marked in costume and hairstyle. From the day of marriage, women will wear other jewellery, clothing different in colour, model or even both, and wear their hair in a style reserved for married women.

Ethnic jewellery and motherhood

The next phase, when a wife also becomes a mother, calls for specific jewellery items too. In Egypt and Libya, the salhayat or salhat pendant is worn by mothers. Traditional lore has it that the tip of the pendant is often broken off if the wearer gives birth to a son. This however is unlikely, as the ornaments would be too precious to damage in this way. Probably, the tip of such a pendant was broken off when the wearer needed money. [2]

In Kabylia, Algeria, a round brooch abundantly decorated with enamel and coral, the tabzimt, is given to a new mother by her husband. [3]

And these are just two examples: there are gifts of jewellery to celebrate the birth of a child throughout the region.

Ethnic jewellery and old age

And finally, in the evening of her life, if she is widowed, a woman will be wearing only a few items such as bracelets or rings. That is because, during her lifetime, she will have sold most of it to cover expenses, or pay for the wedding of sons (see how that works here).

Ethnic jewellery throughout life

Each tribe, village, region and country has its own silver jewellery code. But jewellery is much more than that. It accompanies a child safely through the early years of its existence, it signals that a girl is ready to get married and it proudly displays the wealth of a new bride.

All the jewellery a woman has received during her life, from the tiny pendants when she was a child to the more sizeable pieces she is entitled to as a married woman and a mother, form her own personal asset. These two aspects are inseparable: following the jewellery over the course of a lifetime is following the journey of the wearer herself.

—

More posts on jewellery and people? Browse them all here!

Join the Jewellery List and receive new articles, jewellery news and more in your inbox!

Want to dive into the world jewellery, women and life decisions? Take the e-course and learn how to read jewellery!

—

References

[1] See for example Weissenberger, M., 1998. Les bijoux des oasis égyptiennes, in: Bliss, F. 1998. Artisanat et artisanat d’art dans les oasis du desert occidental egyptien, Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, Köln, Fahmy, A.  2007. Enchanted Jewelry of Egypt. The traditional art and craft. American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, Bliss, F. 1998. Siwa, die Oase des Sonnengottes. Beitrage zur Kulturkunde Band 18. PAS, Bonn. Persistent legend has it that these discs were flung in a local well upon marriage, but the item is far too valuable to be simply thrown away. I mean, really, you would not toss your creditcard into a well when you got married either, would you?

[2] Can’t repeat this often enough! See Vale, M.M. 2011. Sand and Silver. Jewellery, Costume and Life in Siwa Oasis. York Publishing Services, York, p. 91.

[3] See Tamzali, W. 1984. Abzim. Parures et Bijoux des femmes d’Algerie. Dessain et Tolra, Entreprise algerienne de presse, Algers. However, this custom is disputed: the tabzimt can also be part of the dowry gift and not necessarily be reserved only for the birth of a son.

Would you like to quote this article? Please do! Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].