For the Ndebele people in southern Africa, beadwork holds significant social and symbolic meaning, particularly in the lives of women. While in other African cultures both men and women are involved in beading, Ndebele women are the sole designers and creators of these arts in their own communities. Each garment is made by hand, and every characteristic of the piece signifies something about the wearer, such as age, social class, spiritual state, and marital status. Men do not traditionally bead unless they are shamans, when they might bead items for their calling, but they often employ women who are skilled beaders to make specific items for their use (source: Stephen Long, email correspondence). Beading is generally regarded as a female occupation and only recently have a few men decided to make beadwork curios for commercial purposes.

Throughout many Nguni groups of Bantu language-speaking peoples, the colors, patterns, and materials of beadwork can be understood and interpreted as a kind of coded language, and similarities are shared among the numerous cultural groups in southern Africa. The geometric designs of the Ndebele resemble patterns that are found in murals painted on the sides of their homes. These murals are also painted primarily by women, and an intrinsic, evolving dialogue exists between the symbology of painting and beadwork, broadcasting and cementing the female identity in Ndebele society.

Many beaded garments are worn on the body during important ceremonies and rituals. Along with veils (isiyaya), Ndebele brides wear long trains called inyoka (meaning snake in isiNdebele), which are made of white beads woven together with string by their female relatives. The patterns, length, and structure of the inyoka can signal whether the bride will be the groom’s first wife, or if she is still a virgin.

The inyoka presented here features two bold, geometric designs executed in blue, red, yellow, and green beads, and a third, smaller design on the rectangular tab at one end.  Additional details are present in the form of lines and dashes in all four colors, and numerous rows of openwork squares and rectangles are found adjacent to the colored designs.