Amazigh fibulas of North Africa

Amazigh fibulas of North Africa

by | Objects

Dress and jewellery

Amazigh fibulas of North Africa: jewellery and identity

Published June 24, 2025

It’s the most iconic piece of Amazigh jewellery in North Africa: the fibula or clothing fastener. From the Atlantic coast of Morocco to the oases of Libya, Amazigh fibulas are both functional and highly symbolic. What is more, they reflect regional identities, social structures, and even showcase connections between landscape, dress, and daily life. So, let’s have a look at these beautiful objects of adornment!

What are Amazigh fibulas? Use, names & regional styles

What are Amazigh fibulas used for? Fibulas basically serve as fasteners. You’ll find them used on a variety of garments, including outer wraps, shawls, and head coverings. Their forms vary by region and community, ranging from simple functional items to more elaborately worked items that may also carry symbolic meaning.

While you may find them repurposed into pendants, that is not how they were used originally: they really are pins!

That capacity of joining two things together is also why there is also a lot of informal ritual involving fibulas: see more about that here!

A silver and enamel fibula from the Tiznit region, Morocco
A selection of beautiful silver fibulas from the Maghreb, against a brilliant blue background.

What is the correct term for Amazigh fibulas?

The term fibula is obviously not local; it comes from Latin, where it referred broadly to a clasp or brooch used to fasten clothing. The use of garment pins dates back much earlier, though – examples made from metal and bone have been found in Bronze Age contexts across Europe, the Mediterranean, and North Africa.

The specific form most common in North Africa today, the rotating ring-and-pin mechanism, is associated with Roman innovations in clothing fasteners. These Roman-era brooches, widely distributed across the empire, introduced a functional design that remained in use and was adapted across different cultures over time.

While fibula is the standard term used in archaeological and art historical literature, the objects themselves are known by a range of local names in Amazigh communities. In Morocco, they are referred to as tizerzai or tisernas; in Algeria, terms such as adwir or tabzimt are used; and in Tunisia and Libya, they are commonly known as khlel. These vernacular terms reflect linguistic diversity, but also a regional variation in design and use.

Anatomy of a fibula: ring, pin, head, and variation

The most common type of fibula found in North Africa is based on the penannular brooch design. That is a ring that is incomplete or open at one point. A typical fibula consists of three main components:

1. The head: a terminal or decorative element at the end of the pin;

2. The ring: a circular or penannular ring;

3. The pin itself.

These elements are visible in the illustration above.

The large crescent-shaped fibulas of Libya and Tunisia follow the same design, but have no head: in these types, the ring is aggrandized to the point where it also becomes the eye-catcher.

How do you actually fasten a fibula…?

That’s a question I get asked a lot – so, here is how! To fasten a garment, the pin is pushed through two the layers of fabric that you’ll want to secure together. Push the pin through and bring it back to the front by perforating the fabrics again: by pushing it through and through, you’ll end up with the head of the pin and its lower half visible on the outside of your garment. Once in place, rotate the ring so that the pin lies across the gap in the ring. Push the pin through the gap, and twist the ring so the opening moves away from the pin itself. The tension between the ring and the fabric holds the pin securely, preventing it from slipping out. This design allows the fibula to act as both a clasp and a visual feature of the garment.

Here is a quick video showing you how it’s done! (click this link, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page)

Spendid silver fibula set from Algeria

Amazigh fibulas and dress

Obviously, fibulas are integrated with the textiles they secure. That in turn tells you a lot about those textiles just by looking at the pins themselves. Heavier, more substantial fibulas are used with robust fabrics, while lighter versions suggest finer or differently structured cloth.

The outer garments they secure are wraps: garments that envelop the body and shoulders. In winter, these would be heavy, wool wraps, and in summer they might be lighter fabrics.

You will notice that the heads of the fibulas are the heaviest part of the piece. That tells you where they would have been placed: not at the upper end, as you often see them in books, but at the lower end. The pins themselves stick out upwards, the head is pointed downwards. That is an important difference between theory and practice: fibulas are almost invariably depicted with their heads upwards and their pins downwards, but that is not how they would have been worn in real life!

How fibulas reflect Amazigh identity

Fibulas are part and parcel of the cultural practices of Amazigh communities. They are not simply adornments, but part of a broader visual and symbolic language that links body, clothing, architecture, and environment. And you know that is how I love to study jewellery: in its cultural context!

Because this allows us to understand how material culture communicates identity, memory, and place, rather than just admiring them as beautiful objects in a showcase.

This interconnectedness is of course very evident in recurring patterns and motifs. The same geometric forms found on fibulas frequently appear on carpets, blankets, pottery, and woodwork, suggesting a shared visual vocabulary across media.

But there is much more. Fibulas offer further insights into the world of their wearers, especially through the design of the pin head or terminal. This is the most visually prominent part of the fibula, and it often serves as a marker of regional or communal identity. Its shape and decoration vary by area, village, or group, allowing the piece to signal belonging and local affiliation.

These terminal forms often reference features from the wearer’s environment. They literally show us what that environment looked like, or what iys wearers considered important.

Some derive from animal forms, for example, the ram’s head motifs found in fibulas worn by the Ihahen of coastal Morocco, which may evoke associations with pastoral life. Others reflect built structures: domed tombs, arched doorways, or the stepped crenellations of kasbah walls.

These visual echoes suggest that fibulas do not only exist in relation to the body, or even just in relation to dress, but also participate in a wider cultural landscape – drawing meaning from the world around them and embedding that meaning into daily dress.

How fabulous is that, when your dress and jewellery fit into your surroundings…?

Amazigh fibulas today: living heritage & revival

Although Amazigh fibulas are no longer commonly worn in daily life, they still carry meaning. They are living heritage, and continue to be produced for ceremonial use, like local festivals, as well as for tourist markets. The fibula itself appears on beauty products, metalwork, and doors. It has grown into a symbol of Amazigh identity, notably in the diaspora – Amazigh fibulas of North Africa are still deeply meaningful and continue to evolve.

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References

Read more on fibulas and their cultural meaning here (not exhaustive, there is much more out there!):

Benfoughal, T. 1997. Bijoux et Bijoutiers de l’ Aurès. CNRS Editions, Paris

Cheylan, G. (ed.) 2007. Coutumes et décors de Tunisie. Ceres Éditions, Tunis

Eudel, P. 1906. Dictionnaire des Bijoux d’Afrique du Nord. Maroc, Algérie, Tunisie, Tripolitaine. Ernest Léroux, Paris

Gargouri-Sethom, S. & J. Pérez 2005. Les Bijoux de Tunisie. Dunes Editions, Tunis El Hafsia

Ghellali, H. 2024. Jewellery and Adornment of Libya. Blikveld Uitgevers Publishers, Zandvoort

Tamzali, W. 1984. Abzim. Parures et Bijoux des femmes d’Algérie. Dessain et Tolra, Entreprise algérienne de presse, Algers

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The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on jewellery, informal ritual and collections. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.

Jewellery and dress

Jewellery and dress

by | Opinion

Two fields of research

Jewellery and Dress

Published on July 26, 2024

Jewellery from the Middle East and North Africa is always part of a larger ensemble: it is linked closely to other elements of personal appearance such as clothing and body aesthetic. Often, it’s not even possible or even necessary to discern where jewellery ends and dress begins. I believe the two are too often presented as separate, while in many cases, they are created to fit together. And on the other hand, I also believe they are two distinct fields of research. So how does that work?

Jewellery and dress: a practical connection

Starting out with the most practical connection: that where jewellery is an integral part of dress. Many jewellery items are designed to fasten clothing or to keep textiles in place: they are as much part of one’s attire as zippers are. That is not limited to North Africa and Southwest Asia: many cultures around the world use an astounding amount of pins, hooks, clasps, and buttons. All of these can be beautifully decorated and some of them are really meant to catch our attention, like the huge toggle buttons worn on the island of Sardinia (Italy), for example.

And when that costume changes, its jewellery changes along with it or even disappears. Many jewellery items are no longer worn, because the costume they were an integral part of, has changed. That is a super logical domino-effect, but one that is not always acknowledged.

Large silver buttons on a sleeve in Sardinia, Italy
A stunning hair pin from Sri Lanka, called kondakoora.

For example, the large Amazigh clothing pins, known as tizerzai, tiseghnas or khlel, that kept the traditional dress of the Maghreb secure, are no longer used as everyday wear, as these garments themselves are no longer worn – at least not widely or on a daily basis. The pins are however proudly worn on festive occasions: although their practical use has dwindled, their life as carrier of cultural identity certainly has not.

Another example is hair jewellery. Hairstyling is an important part of body aesthetic and of social practices, and jewellery was used to keep these wonderful hairdos in place. Here as well, changes in hairstyle bring about changes in jewellery, another example of how closely connected jewellery and dress are.

One example, from yet another region of the world, is the beautiful kondakoora hairpin, which was worn in Sri Lanka. This lavish pin, set with coloured zircons, was placed on hair tightly rolled into a bun. After this custom disappeared, the pins were repurposed as brooches.

See more about hair ornaments in this article – they’re also worn in surprising other fashions!

Learn to read jewellery! Four colourful images of online courses.

Jewellery and dress: glittering fabric

Other pieces of jewellery have become so associated with the textiles they are worn on, that it is useless to try and tell where the jewellery ends and the clothing begins.

Take the richly ornamented face veils from Sinai and Palestine for example, which combine both textile and jewellery traditions. The tatreez embroidery that is so well known from clothing is also used on the face veil, which also carries beads, coins and small pieces such as silver amulets. You’ll find these beads, coins and amulets in turn also strung onto necklaces or sewn on garments themselves.

And the flowing headveil shown above, worn in the region of Mount Lebanon, forms a unit with its stunning tapering tantour of embossed and chiseled silver.

The elaborate face veils of the Rashayda are also both an element of dress and of jewellery. These are made of textile with silver woven in, resulting in very heavy and glinting veils. These are further embellished with silver pendants and amulets, that may equally be worn as jewellery.

This tradition of textiles embellished with silver or even gold thread is found in many garments from the region. It’s called badilah or badla, telli or talli, zari or zardozi. In the Western world, the glittery fabrics from Egypt are commonly known as ‘Assiut’ textiles. [1] They are named after the Egyptian town of Assyut where these were produced as export product during the Roaring Twenties.

Spendid Rashayda dress and silver jewellery.

Jewellery and dress: patterns and designs

The line between jewellery and dress fades even more in the case of embroidered embellishments.

The chest panel of Egyptian Siwa oasis wedding dresses is embroidered in the pattern of an amulet necklace, and even the use of colour in some embroidery styles is similar to colours used in jewellery. And the chest panel of a dress from Bahariya oasis, also in Egypt, is decorated with shining applications. An example is above: click on the image to enlarge it.

The same goes for patterns and shapes used: not only common designs such as triangles, but specific shapes such as fish, tortoises, stars and floral designs exist both in jewellery and in dress as well as in body aesthetics – and beyond, such as in basketry, weaving, but also in architectural decoration like the painted symbols on houses.

It is their meaning to the wearer that is central, instead of a division by material or object category. In some cultures, these designs and meanings overlap on both jewellery and dress, amplifying one another, and in others they differ per material carrier, but work together as an ensemble.

Jewellery and dress: together, they are more

That is what I find so fascinating about the potential of jewellery as a historic source: comparing it to other elements of a person’s personal appearance, and looking beyond that to the complete setting of that person in their context of their home, family, and culture, shares a lot about how people viewed themselves. But: that takes a village.

For my line of work, for example, I would never call myself a dress specialist. That is simply not my area of expertise. Studying jewellery, on the other hand, is not something one can add ‘on the side’. Both fields are vast in and of themselves. The most meaningful (and fun!) projects I have been involved in, are those where dress and jewellery specialists work together: it’s exciting to see this many-layered heritage highlighted from different angles!

So, just like jewellery and dress are more than just adornment when studied together, those studies themselves become more than their single fields when specialists work together. Who wants to team up…?

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References

[1] For some reason, this is often misspelled as Assuit. I have no idea why, as the town really is called Assiut, not Assuit. A case of endless copy-paste from a faulty source, I think!

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].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on the jewellery of the Egyptian zar-ritual. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Traditional French jewellery

Traditional French jewellery

by | European jewellery, Reviews

Rural jewels of 18th and 19th century France

French Regional Jewellery

Published on Jan 24, 2024

Apart from traditional jewellery from North Africa and the Middle East, I am also very interested in European traditional jewellery. And I love books! So when I came across Traditional French Jewellery in the bookshop of the MAD in Paris, it took me all of 2 seconds flipping through its pages to decide this was a must-have. Let me tell you why.

French regional jewellery: the website

This book does not appear out of thin air. The author, Michael Fieggen, set out to research traditional jewellery from all regions of France almost 30 years ago. Those decades of research were aimed at providing a reliable reference work on French jewellery. A reference work is obviously useless when you can’t refer to it, so Michael created a wonderful website back in 2010. You’ll find it here.

This is one of the things I absolutely love: sharing one’s knowledge with whomever wants to learn. It’s all there, sorted regionally and thematically, with an abundance of jewellery examples.

But even more wonderful, at least in my view, is that collectors of jewellery wanted to have an actual, tangible book [p. 5]. It makes me so happy that books are not dead, and that there are people who actually want to read them! Especially when it is a book as lavish as this one.

French regional jewellery: the book

The main body of this book is composed of chapters devoted to the regions of France and their jewellery. And wow, what stunning jewellery this is!

Each region is represented by numerous pieces of jewellery, and I really appreciate seeing various executions within one single type. There are jewels in silver and gold, but also glass, beads, ivory, fabrics, enameling, early celluloid…The range of jewellery is huge: you’ll find earrings, necklaces, pendants, rings and bracelets, but also clasps, hooks, pins, buttons, belt hooks, and much more.

The research behind it is extensive. Just one example is on p. 103, where a postcard image of a young woman wearing a Narbonne cross in a particular fashion is shown. The caption calls out attention the fact that it is not known if this was indeed how it was supposed to be worn, or that this is staged by the publisher issuing the postcard.

This level of source criticism is seen throughout the book. It makes one read the information presented with confidence. And that is enhanced by the references throughout. The reference numbers indicate the corresponding number in the bibliography (so there is no separate section with notes – but this works well, too).

French regional jewellery: the details

This book has been painstakingly compiled, with a lot of attention to details. For example, all the images in the book are at their actual size, except rings: those have been enlarged to 150 to 200% [p. 11]. That is incredibly useful, eliminates the guessing game of how large something actually is, and makes for stunning illustrations throughout.

Those photographs are simply gorgeous. They are crisp, clear, and every single piece has been cut out and placed against the white of the page. Enlargements of jewels bleeding off the page make for a playful touch every now and then. Where possible, enlargements of the hallmarks have been added in small insets next to a jewel.

Besides jewellery images, you will find plenty of other reference material. Old photos, paintings and drawings of people wearing jewellery, old illustrations from jewellery catalogues, a poem from 1887…there is so much information strewn across these pages.

French regional jewellery: and there is more!

But that’s not all! The book also contains a detailed overview of French hallmarks (seriously, it’s clear to see this is 3 decades of work right here), and every single illustration is included in a detailed list of illustrations. That list gives you details of each piece of jewellery such as its dimensions (to complement the image itself, which is already true to size, as I mentioned), weight and hallmark (if any), but also its provenance.

There is an extensive bibliography, a glossary (just in case you are a little rusty in French, as I am – this is a fantastic overview of terms), and my favourite: a rapid guide for identifying regional crosses. France being France, there are a lot of different types of crosses, and these are all sorted for you in this chapter.

This is truly an amazing reference book for French regional jewellery. It also sets a high standard for future reference works: its clarity of illustration and level of detail and variety is super helpful. It will make you fall in love with French rural jewellery, as this book absolutely presents it as the treasure it is.

And there is more to come…! The author wrote me and mentioned he’s currently writing the second volume of traditional French jewellery that is not regional in origin (honestly, I cannot wait). This will explore the jewellery associated with life transitions and events such as baptism, marriage etc. And….there’s a complete book on French hallmarks scheduled to appear very, very soon!

Long story short: if you are collecting European regional jewellery or working with European regional jewellery in any capacity, you really will want to own this book.

More about Traditional French Jewellery

Traditional French Jewellery. Volume 1. Regional jewellery: treasured witnesses of rural life in the 18th and 19th century. By Michael C.W. Fieggen (2021). 304 pages, full-colour, available in French and English. Published by Michael Fieggen

Available with the author via this link, where you will also find details on his upcoming book on hallmarks

I purchased the book in the museum shop of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.

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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].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

THOBNA

THOBNA

by | Reviews

Palestinian dress research

THOBNA. Reclaiming Palestinian dresses in the diaspora

Published Dec 22, 2023

What power does a dress hold, personally, but also historically? Wafa Ghnaim’s second book THOBNA. Reclaiming Palestinian dresses in the diaspora investigates the memory of women through their dress. The result is a book that is personal and powerful, a study that sets a new standard for dress research.

The book 'Oman Adorned. A Portrait in Silver' shown with an Omani gold and silver necklace.

THOBNA: our dress

The title, THOBNA, means ‘our dress’. That reflects the viewpoint of this book: it is written by a Palestinian artist and scholar. In the introduction, Wafa shares her evolving points of view and understanding since Tatreez and Tea was published. THOBNA focuses on resistance embroidery in its historical and actual context.

Palestinian tatreez: flipping the perspective

THOBNA regards dress as living history (p. 37). The importance here is the realization that the woman creating and wearing the dress is central to its decoration and the story it shares. Tracing back embroidery only to its historic roots will only get you so far: it has always moved in sync with its people.

The first two chapters discuss that perspective. First, the dress is placed in the historical context of its people. In doing so, Wafa questions the usual method of describing dresses as ‘pre- or post 1948’, ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’. By following the wider context of the history of Palestinian people, she is able to identify a much more detailed development in dress styles, tied directly to circumstances and historical shifts.

Next, she traces the embroidery styles that have contributed to tatreez and dress as they exist today to deeper history in the wider geographical area of Southwest Asia. Discussing sources and the role that museums objects can play in this type of research, she then zooms in on dress styles from the 1850s onwards.

This is an incredibly important chapter to read. It blends together detailed experiences of reality after 1948 with artistic and resistance developments.

Dress research: ten portraits

Ten Palestinian dresses are analyzed in detail and serve as a sampler of how much more information may be learned from thorough dress study. In this chapter, Wafa identifies the maker of a dress as ‘Maker Once Known’ instead of ‘Unknown Artist’ – a beautiful way of flipping the perspective again, of acknowledging a maker whose name we no longer know, but whose story is preserved in her dress.

And there is so much to be decoded in these dresses. An example that resonated with me is a dress from the Gaza region (p. 71). It was altered several times, its changing fabrics indicating displacement and wear by different persons. Importantly here, Wafa includes the history of the dress during the time it was with its collector – these, too, may have altered dresses and as such obscuring parts of its Palestinian biography.

Tatreez: symbolism and colour by decade

As a result of her in-depth study, Wafa reflects on symbolism and shares her insights on how to date a thobe by its colour scheme. This latter chapter is very important for anyone studying dress, as it provides not only colour schemes per century and per region, but also explains how these came to be and how they remained associated with regional identities even after the 1948 depopulation of these regions.

The symbolism chapter in particular is another example of living history. For jewellery, I can’t stress enough that any given symbol may carry different meaning for different people in different timeframes. Symbolism is never static. For the meaning of patterns on a dress, THOBNA adds the crucial insight that these not only vary over time and geographically, but also per family. Every family has its own history, its own way of expressing, and that is reflected in the forms chosen. And that brings me to the value of knowledge and how we achieve it.

Knowledge: lived, learned, passed on

If I were to describe THOBNA in one word, it would be understanding of knowledge (okay, that’s three). Apart from knowledge of historical events, as outlined above, there is Elder knowledge or ancestral knowledge to incorporate in research. Tangible heritage is always accompanied by intangible heritage: stories, poems, songs, expressions and personal memories. But these are rarely included in research. even though they contribute a unique perspective on living heritage.

Knowledge comes, for cultural outsiders, also in the form of awareness. In the last three chapters, Wafa shares many detailed stitches, materials, how-to’s, patterns and their meaning with us, and guides us clearly and gently in how to respect these properly.

 

“May THOBNA provide an artistic means for you to study and learn about Palestinian resistance from our perspective”

THOBNA: integral dress research

Do not expect easy lists or clear-cut criteria in this book, although the thobe diagram, colour guides and patterns provided are very detailed. Rather, immerse yourself in the ever-evolving world of dress and its people. Studying THOBNA will allow you to develop a deeper understanding of the multifaceted world of Palestinian dress, as seen through the eyes of a Palestinian researcher and artist.

That is what makes this book stand out, too. It combines the perspectives of scholarly research, indigenous living heritage and the actual experience of the artist. It discusses dress from all these perspectives, and it does so in the past, present and future tense.

That is how it sets a new standard for dress research: there are so many details to take into account to properly reconstruct the narrative of the creators and wearers of dress that it needs all these perspectives, not just the art historical point of view.

If you are in any way involved in Palestinian dress, either as a curator or a collector, you will really want to read this book.

And now even more so, because THOBNA was published in the summer of 2023. On p. 91, we read:

‘THOBNA is a commitment to reclamation. Therefore, Chapter 9 focuses primarily on the patterns stitched during the First and Second Intifada, when Palestinian women used tatreez as an artistic expression worn on their bodies that held the world to account for turning a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, reiterating their right of return and asserting their undeniable need for freedom.’

Since then, the truth in these words has become shockingly clear once again.

More information on THOBNA. Reclaiming Palestinian dresses in the diaspora.

Title: THOBNA. Reclaiming Palestinian dresses in the diaspora. By Wafa Ghnaim, 2023. 189 pages, full colour, in English.

Published by The Tatreez Institute, Washington D.C.

Available with the author and on Amazon.

More on Wafa’s work can be found here on the Tatreez and Tea website.

I received the book as thank you for the crowdfunding, which I am proud to have supported.

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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].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Binding magic in jewellery

Binding magic in jewellery

by | Magic & Amulets

keeping it together

Binding magic in jewellery: pins

Updated Jan 28, 2024

The most mundane, everyday things can be transformed into magical objects simply by analogy, and that is what makes this form of magical activities so relatable. Fastening something is one of those acts that can carry a deeper meaning, and the object that goes with it becomes important, too. And clothing pins, also known as fibulas, are perfect for that goal!

Pinning a fibula: the magic behind it

This is basically a specific form of binding magic, where pins to keep clothing together gain a different meaning.

I talked about the magic of tying and girding in another blog post, and pinning your clothing together works along the same lines. The clothing pins that are used to keep fabric together, can be transformed into very powerful magical objects when they are used in ritual.

The analogy is of course very clear: a clothing pin holds two separate pieces of dress together, and so it would also be very useful in rituals to keep persons together.

When you fasten a fibula (see how to do that here), you actually have to carry out a number of steps: it does not close automatically by itself. And that is where the magic is, in those acts of deliberately fastening…clothing pins are the perfect object for love-magic!

Fibula magic in ancient times

The Romans already used their pins or fibulas (the Latin word is still in use to indicate these pins) as such. Some 2,000 years ago, you could buy an inscribed fibula to present to a lady: it would say something like ‘Hello, gorgeous!’, or, if you were bolder, ‘mix yourself with me’ – I’ll leave it up to you to figure out what they meant by that!

The point is that the fibula would work as a magical tool. [1] Once the lady in question would pin her clothes with it, it was hoped your relationship with her would immediately grow stronger.

Some 1,000 years earlier, three imported bronze fibulas were left behind in a shallow pit on the edge of a moor in The Netherlands. They were a gift to the gods, or whatever beings were believed to inhabit that place, and they were a precious gift, too.

Those fibulas were imported from Scandinavia and did not form part of traditional dress in what later would become The Netherlands: a treasure worthy of the gods. [2] You’ll see it in the collage below.

Gloomy photo of a swamp with a Bronze Age jewellery hoard

Fibula magic in North Africa

In a different world and a different time, fibulas have a very similar protective power. In Morocco, clothing pins are considered powerful because their sturdy pin has the power to harm the evil eye, a meaning also found widely in the rest of the Maghreb. [3]

Many shapes on fibulas are designed to attract good fortune and to keep evil at a distance, while their triangular form alludes to the powers of the number 3 (see more about the magic of numbers in this blog post). Fibulas are also the perfect piece of jewellery to attach amulet boxes to, which would be suspended from either the fibula itself or from the chain between them.

But here as well, their importance as something that holds to halves together, shines through.

The fibulas are part of the dowry, given to the bride by her husband and his family, and here the magic of pinning reinforces the bond between both the husband and wife and their respective families.

Adorning the bride with her jewellery, including fastening her fibula set, was part of the transformative magic in Libya, which would accompany the bride during her transition from unmarried girl to married woman. [4]

Belt buckle magic in Europe

And that power of fastening is found as a theme in other parts of the world, too.

Belt buckles function in much the same way: they, too, hold something together. As such, it became very popular as a form in European rings from the 17th century onwards. The belt buckle symbolized eternal love and loyalty – even beyond death, which is why you will also find it in mourning rings. Together with the shape of the ring itself as an endless cycle, the belt buckle firmly connects two halves for all eternity.

Pinning, fastening, closing: magic in adornment

So whether it is clothing pins or belt buckles: by fastening something, humans have tried to influence the natural course of events for millennia!

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References

[1] Peter Wells notes that fibulas in Europe’s prehistory, when they are depicted, are always shown ‘open’, and wonders if that has something to do with magic: nothing is definitive yet, nothing is sealed, the future is open. Wells 2012, How Ancient Europeans Saw the World, p.111.

[2] I wrote about these in Bos, J. & S. van Roode 2019. Landschap vol Leven. BLKVLD Uitgevers Publishers.

[3] Cynthia Becker, Amazigh Textiles and Dress in Morocco. Metaphors of Motherhood, in: African Arts vol 39 no. 6 (2006), p. 44

[4] Elena Schenone Alberini, Las mujeres Libias en la litteratura oral. Ritos de paso y roles de genero, in: Orafrica no 6, 2010.

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Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.