Beadwork made by young Zulu women for the men courting them; the name means “love letter”. Its colours were read together: in the one example our source gives, a green ring meant that a proposal had been accepted.
Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.
The Horniman Museum holds a piece of Zulu beadwork, numbered 24.5.66/1, that entered its collection in 1966. Pieces like it are panels of glass beads, made in the 20th century.
To verify: What the Horniman record calls this piece, and whether it is an incwadi yothando; Where and when the piece was made
Young Zulu women made these bead panels for their suitors. Colours, and combinations of colours, carried set meanings. The Phansi Museum gives one example: a green ring meant that a proposal had been accepted.
We don’t publish a chart of what each bead colour means. The meanings belong to the makers and to the people they made the beadwork for, and we repeat only the example our source gives. Any beadwork we show will come from Zulu makers, named.
