Friday, April 10, 2009

Fertility Dolls: Ndebele Tribe

I came across the Fertility Dolls website when I researching yesterday's post on the wooden fertility dolls and realized there's a beaded version. Cool! They're made by the Ndebele tribe of Southern Africa who hand bead stunningly colorful dolls.

A suitor will give one to a young woman he'd like to marry. A young woman is given one to take care of, she names the doll and takes care of it then her first born child is named after the doll.

You can purchase a sweet beaded fertility doll from their website.


(Photo credit: All photos courtesy of Fertility Dolls dot net).

The colors are stunning, don't you think?

4 comments:

rosebud101 said...

Isn't that a great doll? The bead work is fantastic!

SummersStudio said...

These are wonderful. And what a lovely tradition.

Diana Ferreira said...

The Zulu's give 'love letters' (made from a piece of woven seed beads) to their loved one.
Here is some info on it: http://www.marques.co.za/clients/zulu/bead.htm

Diana

sharon said...

These are beautiful, and what intricate work! Their tradition is also beautiful. Being Polish and growing up with some knowledge of our family's and nationality's traditions, i always had a yearning to know more, and i think other cultures traditions are very interesting. It does make me sad that a lot of younger people have no interest in their heritage.