{"id":7558,"date":"2021-07-02T09:43:07","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T13:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lammuseum.wfu.edu\/?p=7558"},"modified":"2025-07-01T10:26:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T14:26:45","slug":"mporo-necklace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lammuseum.wfu.edu\/2021\/07\/mporo-necklace\/","title":{"rendered":"Mporo Necklace"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mporo
\nThis mporo <\/em>necklace was made by the Samburu people who live in north central Kenya, just above the equator.\u00a0 The Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists, moving frequently to allow their livestock to graze.\u00a0 They are closely related to the Maasai, who live further south, and speak a similar language.<\/p>\n

This type of necklace gets its name from the large red beads called mporo<\/em> that make a vertical row down the center.\u00a0 These beads are sometimes referred to as white heart beads.\u00a0 They are dark red oval shaped glass beads with white centers, resembling carnelian.\u00a0 They were made in Venice specifically for trade with Africa from the 1880s through the early 20th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 Because pastoralists in the area had been using carnelian beads for centuries before the arrival of Europeans, they were an ideal market for these trade beads, and the beads are now highly prized.\u00a0 The necklace is made of bundles of palm fiber underneath braided giraffe hair that is threaded through the mporo<\/em> beads.\u00a0 There is an additional row of beads hidden behind those that are visible in the front.\u00a0 The bundles of fiber and hair are wrapped in leather at the back of the necklace and coated with red ochre and animal fat.<\/p>\n

Body decorations, specifically beaded jewelry, are highly prized in Samburu society.\u00a0 Mporo<\/em> necklaces have the specific function of signifying the married status of a woman.\u00a0 As such, they are an important component of a bride\u2019s adornment.\u00a0 When a woman is married, her mother gives her a necklace made from the beads in two of the fiber bundles of her own mporo<\/em> necklace.\u00a0 After the first month of marriage, a ceremony is performed and other related women bring the bride gifts of additional beads, resulting in a necklace of at least three bundles, like this one.\u00a0 The beads represent wealth and fertility, demonstrating a connection to generations of women who have successfully borne children.<\/p>\n

You can learn more about wedding traditions in our virtual exhibit Ties that Bind: Wedding Customs from around the World<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This mporo necklace was made by the Samburu people who live in north central Kenya, just above the equator.\u00a0 The Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists, moving frequently to allow their livestock to graze.\u00a0 They are closely related to the Maasai, who live further south, and speak […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"overlay_title":false,"hide_featured_image_post":false,"wfu_hide_page_title":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artifacts"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMporo Necklace - Timothy S. Y. 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