So, what are waist beads for anyway?
Thanks for visiting Well Embraced/Embrace It Girl. Here are the answers to main questions that are asked about waist beads.
I'll start off my mentioning the cultural purposes.
- Waist beads have been worn by women from the Yoruba tribe now mainly in Nigeria since the 16th century. You can also see them out of West Africa and Ghana.
- Most women wear them under their garments because it was a very sacred practice for them.
- They are worn to represent womanhood, sensuality, fertility, and even passed down from mother to daughter.
- They are traditionally tied on and may only be cut off when ready.
In modern times women wear them for the same reasons listed as well as...
- Maintaining weight, the beads will roll down when you loose and vice versa when you gain.
- Detecting how much a baby is growing during pregnancy as the beads roll upward.
- Fashion purposes, waist beads naturally make you feel like a woman; beautiful, confident, sexy, and the list continues.