Bebedi! Owanbe! Bebedi! Owanbe! This is a
short question and answer chorus sang by
little children while at play. The objective of
the song is to find out who, in the group, has
the biggest and most beautiful backside.
So, as each of the young girls step out to the
middle of the circle, the leader of the game
asks, Bebedi, and the others answer in the
chorus, Owanmbe.
The girl in the middle then shakes her
backside, now called twerking, for the others
to judge. Naturally, the one judged most
endowed of the group wins the game. Such is
the importance attached to the female bum,
especially in the African continent.
The female bum represents many things for
the African society, just as much sentiment is
attached to it. It houses the whole essence of
a woman’s feminism and sexuality.
The Bebedi, Jigida or Ileke idi, otherwise
known as waist beads are one ornament that
have fascinated me for many years. Why? I
really have no definite answer.
Perhaps it is because of the beautiful array of
blended colours which often glistens against
the rays of light when the beads sneak out of
their hiding under the clothes, or just the idea
that one is wearing something unusual and
secrete from what everyone else is wearing.
Unfortunately, I have not found the courage to
wear one yet. A childhood experience, still
fresh in my mind, probably contributed to this.
As a child, I lived with my grandmother, a very
loving but strict disciplinarian and daughter of
a clergy who took her Christian religion very
seriously. However, we lived in Sango, Ebute
Metta area of Lagos where a large number of
Northerners and Muslim Yorubas also lived.
This gave me the opportunity to interact with
and make friends with several Hausa children
and fell in love with a few of them. Because
their lifestyle was quite different from mine, I
was really enchanted by everything about
them and I became quite attached to two of
them. Ruwa, who was a few years older than
me lived next door to my right while Binta, my
age mate lived two doors to our right.
Virtually all my spare time, after school and
evening lesson, was spent in Binta’s company,
in their dimly lit rooms with blue and yellow
light bulbs and thick smelling Arabian
perfumes. Binta’s mother must have been the
most beautiful woman I had ever seen at the
time. Tall, dark, beautiful and soft spoken she
was always dressed in gold and other shiny
ornaments, same with Binta.
Long, drop earrings which my grandmother
insisted were unsuitable for children were
Binta’s favourites. And she always had a
string or more number of beads tied around
her waist which she would let me see
whenever she got a new one. I loved them and
wished I could own a couple too but my
grandmother would always say no, insisting
that they were for adults.
At about seven years, I did not understand
why my friends could wear them and I could
not. Then one day, on a visit to Binta’s, her
mum gifted me with a very beautiful set,
similar to one of Binta’s. I quickly rolled it up
my waist and bounced home to show off to my
grandmother. Since she could not make one
for me, well, my friends have given me one.
What happened that evening formed one of the
few childhood experiences I could not
understand for a very long time. The beads
were not only snapped off me, I received a
very good beating as well and told never to go
to Binta’s house again. My grandmother
insisted the beads were obscene, dirty and for
wayward children. I did not understand what
the fuss was about, but a few weeks later,
Binta came to inform me that she was getting
married and moving to somewhere in the
North, I later learnt was Kano.
The reality of what happened to Binta did not
dawn on me until many years after, as a full
grown adult and Journalist, but the memory of
my grandmother’s reaction to the beads that
night has never left and is often replayed in
my mind whenever I see a woman wearing
one.
As I grew up, I realised my grandmother was
not the only person with a misconception and
bias towards the jigida. Just as I have met
women who adorn them and even swear to
their potential benefits, so have I met people
like my grandmother who have serious
aversions to them especially because of their
sexual undercurrents. Waist beads have, for a
very long time, been associated with female
sex and sexuality.
They are believed to possess great erotic
appeal and the ability and power to provoke
sexual desire and deep emotions from the
opposite sex. Primarily, a traditional female
beauty enhancer, they are worn to accentuate
feminism and beauty, drawing focal attention
to the hips, bum and thighs as well as their
movement. (The sway of the bum as a woman
walks) A woman’s chastity and sexual
character can be decoded by the use of beads.
It is believed that the movement of the bead
as she walks reveals a lot about her sexual
morality, either as seductive or reserved. For
young African women, wearing of bead was
also a symbol of female maturity as they are
worn as proof that they have begun
menstruation and are ready for marriage,
hence, the many gifts of beads to young
brides. In fact, in some cultures, the strings of
beads are used to hold up the menstruating
cloth across the buttocks.
Binta, at seven, was being prepared for
marriage! My grandmother knew while I was
ignorant of these facts. I now understand why
my grandmother broke my beautiful beads and
wonder what might have happened to my
beautiful and loving friend.
However, sex and sensuality are just a little of
the attributes of the beads, and in these
attributes perhaps, lie the controversies about
the jigida. African waist beads date as far
back as early Egyptian history even though
the Yorubas and Ghanaians have more robust
records of being the source, users and makers
of these beads. Waist beads are believed to be
sources of great spiritual energy which many
link with juju practice.
Traditionally, charmed waist beads are worn
by women to ward off negative energy from
the body and to close in positive or protective
energy around the body. They are especially
worn by pregnant women to protect their
unborn babies too.
The Yorubas are also very famous for their
charmed waist beads. These charms are
believed to possess the powers to entice and
entrap the opposite sex and even improve
their sexual prowess. These attributes no
doubt have helped to fuel some of the
negativity some associate with waist beads.
Many years back, a very rascally male friend
told me about a near death encounter he had
with a girlfriend at the time. According to him,
he had made advances to the girl for a quite a
while before she finally agreed. The long wait
had increased his sexual desire for her.
To get her, he said, he had resorted to all the
lies he could think of in the code book. What
he discovered the day she finally came visiting
shocked him to his bones. His fresh, beautiful,
university undergraduate wore waist beads
with several balls of wool tied around her
waist.
This, she said, was why she could not date
any guy. Her father had put them around her
when she began menstruating, warning her
that it was to protect her virginity as well as
deal with any guy that got access into her
without his permission. She had been so
scared ever since and until my friend came
along, she had not been with any guy. She
told him he would die if they had sex and so
could only kiss and make out.
For several weeks he could not get the
incident out of his mind and eventually shared
it with a couple of his guys. Some believed
the girl and told him to call off the
relationship while some others insisted it was
all a gimmick, either cooked up by the girl or
a father to protect her. They were sure nothing
would happen to him, while one of them even
vowed to date the girl should he end the
relationship.
After weighing his chances for several weeks,
he decided to go for it and went on to
persuade and convince her of the benefits
(hmm) she could enjoy from her sexual
freedom, if they succeeded. They cut off the
waist beads, set it aside to plunge into
discovery world. It took several days for them
to realise that indeed, the supposed charm
was all a ruse by the lady’s father! But what if
it had been real, I asked.
“Well, it would have been part of a young
man’s fool hardiness and I wouldn’t be telling
the story today”, he’d boasted. He said they
broke up not quite long after their successful
exploration in the forbidden zone began. She
is married with kids today too.
Yet, there is far much more to these beautiful
pieces of wonder and their use have continued
to spread across person and counties even to
the pole and belly dancers of the West and
Europe. For many women, these beads provide
confidence, beauty and balance, especially in
a world that daily dictates what a modern or
beautiful woman ought to look like. Many
testify that wearing them improves their sense
of worth and self esteem, making them feel
sexy and enjoy their sexuality better.
The beads can also be used to improve and
prolong fore play during lovemaking, a male
friend of mine told me. According to him, you
will have something to run your fingers along
as well as count on and since they are worn
against the skin, this is another way of playing
with your partner. The movement of the beads
against the skin between the partners while
making love also increases sensation and
excitement, making sex more enjoyable, he
said.
I am seriously thinking about getting one at
this point. I’m just waiting to sum up enough
courage. After all, catching a glimpse of shiny
waist beads sitting on a well rounded bum
does provide great attraction and sexual
stimulation. Who will not want to take a
second look, especially if worn by a pretty
lady.
Not many, I am sure. Besides, I’m told it is
also used to cultivate a well rounded hips and
bum, which is why mothers wear them for
their little baby girls. I may even start with a
gold chain and good luck charms, after all, my
grandmother is long dead now. God bless her
soul! Enjoy the rest of your holiday please. I
wish us all a happy, peaceful and prosperous
2015
By Yetunde Arebi

Lol I beat you to it www.nairaland.com/2064062/mystery-waist-beads-modern-sexuality

what ever...
The message has been pass thanks to globalization
compliment of the season

Dis 1 na dat kind letter wey Paul use 2 write 2d corrinthians wey back den in 152AD or oga Op abii ur name b Paul D truth remains I no even read am sef, but if u dey wear bead 4 waist I no do again. Some might c it as fashion but, I c as an act of ogbanjeism or ashawoism. My opinion though

That thing can mesmerize me ehnn, I can love it ehn... My babe knows it and when she wants the best of me, she does her thingy with the best of beads...

Omo this story long o

the person wey finish this story contact me for 1500 card

As if I will be paid for reading this long post

is this a course or something. i swear the op did copy and paste.