The waist beads are known as "Mgbájí" in the centralized Igbo dialect while another part of the Igbo calls it various names like "Ukwueleke", "Akaraukwu" or "Jigida"
This is my beautiful and prominent heritage because I hail from a part of the Igbo land. "Imo state" to be precise. That waist bead is a very beautiful and essential ornament that is made of cowries or very expensive beads using a fishing line or a string to join them together.
It is usually worn to beautify a woman's waist, which makes her attractive to the opposite sex and looks more feminine.
The waist beads denote royalty, femininity, and fertility in my tribe.
My mom told me how this waist bead is an essential part of our culture and a maiden attire on the day of her traditional marriage, known as"Igba ukwu".
No bride ever joked with this waist bead as her attire is never complete without the waist beads.
Any man who seeks her hands for marriage must get her waist beads as part of the traditional marital rites.
The bride wears the waist bead as a part of her accessory and to spice up her cultural attire. She wears a two-piece attire that is usually made of Ankara fabrics (wrapper) which covers her bust and her buttocks and then the waist beads sit pretty on her hip as she dances gracefully toward her husband with a portable calabash of wine.
While she dances, the waist beads make a jiggling sound that seems very pleasing to the ear, oh! What a beautiful sight to behold.
I honestly can't wait to be adorned by these beautiful beads on my wedding day and dance gracefully towards my husband as it adds beauty and feminity to my cultural attire.
In another part of the Igbo land, because Igbo is a diverse culture. the mothers adorn their children with these waist beads which mark a transition,(from childhood to adulthood) and the waist bead is believed to improve body shaping if worn from a tender age, they believe it helps to improve the curves of the lady.
For now, I wear waist beads made by myself just to beautify my waist, I wear them under my clothes because it makes me look sexy and curvy. I especially love the jiggling sound it makes, I use it as a fashion accessory.
[Image is mine]
The reason I love to make my fashion waist bead myself is that the already-made one sometimes denotes different things in different cultures, some are even prepared as charms to improve the sexual experience or to attract good luck. And different colors mean different things too.
So I prefer to be on the safe side by making mine myself, unfortunately, when I gained weight, it got rolled up, and then broke, so I am making plans to make another one for myself.
Then I look forward to rocking the true waist bead from my culture on my wedding day, until then, I will keep rocking the fashionable waist bead I made myself.
[Image is mine]