The Transvaal Ndebele is one of the smallest of the seven African tribes in South Africa, and is divided into the northen and southern Ndebele. The Northern group has been assimilated into neighboring tribes, but the Southern Ndebele have retained their unique tribal identity.
The history of the Ndebele is turbulent. In the 16th century, they broke away from other tribes in Zululand, and migrated northto the Transvaal, but a clash between two of the chieftains sonscaused a split. In 1817, when Makatongo was king, Zulu chief Mzilikazi fled from the Zulu king Shaka, into the Transvaal. Makatongo helped the exiled chief, but Mzilikazi later murdered him. For twenty years there was strife amoung the tribes.
Makatongo's grandson, Nyabela, clashed with the Boer farmers when he defied the Transvaal government by refusing to pay hut taxes. Fierce skirmishes resulted in the deaths of two Boers, and Nyabela receiveda a lifetime sentence. President Paul Kruger succeeded in spliting the tribe - at the turn of the century they were scattered on farms employed as laborers.
However, the improsoned Nyabela managed to preserve the cultural identity and unity of his tribe. From his Pretoria cell he sent emissaries into the countryside encouraging his people to alive their language, culture and tribal identity. Sub-cheifs were appointed to ensure that his wish for a culturally unified Ndebele tribe, was granted. Nyabela's people did not disappoint their chief.So, inspite of their dispersal, the Southern Ndebele managed to retain their customs, and since the 1970's most of the Ndebele have liveds in their designated homeland, KwaNdebele. Today, their population numbers over 400,000, and despite many upheavals, the changes in their wayy of lifesince european colonization, and the clash of cultures which it brought, the Ndebele have survived as a tribe, and so has their very proud and distinctive tribal identity.
The Ndebele Beadwork
Beadwork is a hundren and fifty year old art among the Ndebele, and plays an important role in tribal custom, but it is an art that is dying.
The encroachement of western civilization has eroded the Ndebele's tribal way of life, and the gradual disappearance of a true tribal existence will mean the inevitable dwindling of many of its age old rituals, customs and art forms.
To the Ndebele however, beadwork is more than just an art form. It is an essential part of their cultural and ethnic identity, and serves several functions in tribal society. Beads are used to adorn the body and decorate cereminial objects and items of clothing. Among the Ndebele, beadwork is worn almost exclusively by the women, for whom the different beadwork and beaded garments serve as an identification os status from childhood.
Beadwork is an integral part of all Ndebele rituals and ceremonies, which mark importantevents in family life, from the birth of a child, to initiation into adulthood, to marriage, to burial.
A bride may work for 2-3 years on a piece of beadwork to present to her future in-law family, and the more intricate and impressive the piece, the more she will be favored by her husband's family and respected by the community.
Likewise, a woman may spend many months or even years on intricate beadwork to adorn funeral garments. The Ndebele have a strong belief in the afterlife, so a great deal of care goes into the munufacture of burial garments.
The amount of skill patience and craftmanship required to make a Ndebele beaded garment is hard to imagine. Some Ndebele beaded garment are made with over 300,000 individually strung beads, and the careful artis passed mother to daughter.
The Ndebele beads have always been imported and are identical to those used by north American Indians. In earlier times, the Ndebele beadwork was mianly white, with just a few colored beads sewn onto the background. Newer pieces (from the 1960's onwards) make use of many more colored beads.
Older pieces of beadwork were sewn onto leather and newer pieces have made use of canvas. Yet anothe rdevelopment has been the introduction of plastic sheeting being used as a backing for the beadwork and the useof colored tape inplace of the beads. Hte availability of colored plastic materials over the last few decades has heralded an evolution in the art of the Ndebele adornment, and is an interesting example of how tribal culture has used the products of Western civilization to its advantage. Another interesting example of the mix of Western and African cultures is the recent incorporation of Western symbols of status into the beadwork of the Ndebele. Looking closely at some of the contemporary Ndebele beadwork you will find electric light fittings, telephone poles and even jet airplanes.
Each piece of beadwork is a work of art in itself. A fully outfitted woman may be wearing as many as half a million beads. The beadwork of the Ndebele is arguably the most impressive in the world, thanks not only to its sheer volume of beads, but also to its magnificently intricate designs and vibrant use of color. The beads are the history books and the story tellers of the Ndebele. The evolution of beadwork over the decades tells a story, in pictures and symbols, of a tribe that refused to die.
