Sieraden hebben in veel landen meer functies dan alleen versiering. Sieraden vertellen over de status en rijkdom van een vrouw en haar gezin, over de regio waar ze vandaan komt, over haar angsten en geloof. In dit artikel kijken we naar specifieke sieraden die gebruikt worden in de zar-ceremonie in Egypte.

Sieraden hebben in veel landen meer functies dan alleen versiering. Sieraden vertellen over de status en rijkdom van een vrouw en haar gezin, over de regio waar ze vandaan komt, over haar angsten en geloof. In dit artikel kijken we naar een van de meest in het oog springende verschillen in het gebruik van sieraden tussen onze wereld en die van het Midden-Oosten: sieraden als economisch middel.

Among most of the peoples of the world, death does not end a person's membership in a society. Respect for the dead, therefore, is a sort of religion which is found among all peoples, and in all grades of culture. Peoples of different tongues, races, colour, traditions and times, have practised it and are still practising it. The Edo of Nigeria believe that their normal dead will go to their heaven and from there can send blessings to the survivors, and finally return. Hence their prayer to them: "My father, tell Osa to give you things when you are coming back." The Samoans, scattered on a group of islands in the Pacific, suppose that the spirits of their chiefs are nearer than those of common people, and so consult them on all important occasions. The aborigines of Australia today, worship their mythical leaders. For the Zulu of South Africa, the most worshipped ancestor is the last person of importance to die; they begin and end their prayers with his name. This is the prayer of the Malabar of India at feast at the beginning of the agricultural year: "May the gods on high, and the deceased ancestors, bless the seed."

Until the 1960's women in the Bahariya oasis in Egypt's Western Desert wore a very specific amulet. The origin of this amulet has long been subject of discussion. They have been interpreted as derivates of the zar-amulets or imitation Nubian coins, and their possible relation to the Siwa adrim has been investigated as well, but none of these studies have been able to definitively conclude where the unique decoration on the amulets finds its source. In this paper I will attempt to introduce a new perspective on the possible origin of the iconography on this amulet: Coptic magic charms.

Ato Demeke Berhane shows and discusses Ethiopian manuscripts in Ge'ez, pointing out aspects of their binding, wooden board covers, cloth backings, cloth cotton covers to protect illuminations, and changing numbers, on a fifteenth-century manuscript. He also discuses the use of color in the particular manuscript, pointing out that all the persons--Jesus, saints, the Virgin Mary--are black.

From the moment of their first known contact with the West, in 1471, the Akan people of Ghana have been recognized for their rich and captivating culture. In particular, the Akan can boast a vibrant artistic tradition of visual forms including, among other things, textiles, sculpture, gold and silver jewelry, and diverse styles of self decoration. Yet, it is their distinctive blending of art and philosophy that has raised the Akan to the ranks of Africa's most accomplished artists.

The Asante, an Akan people of southern Ghana, are renowned for communicating status, wealth, and power through displays of golden ornament and elaborately woven cloth. This opulence, combined with the symbolic richness of Akan regalia in general, has generated a special appreciation for Asante leadership arts. For many scholars, the centerpiece of these arts is the profusion of golden regalia worn or displayed by male and female traditional rulers and their court officials on state occasions.

A study of the form and variety of Akan metal arts leads one to questions of origin and development. Do they form a homogenous group, characterized by an Akan sense of form and design, or do they reveal outside influence? Have they remained unchanged since their first creation by the ancestral craftsmen, or are they the products of a long period of evolution? The concepts of culture and cultural change need to be handled with care, for complexities appear as one delves beneath the surface. One may begin by reconsidering one basic matter, the quantities of metal available for use by the Akan.

The Akan of Ghana are noted for their craftsmanship in metals. Gold ornaments appear in spectacular profusion at public festivals, and brass was cast in myriad forms as goldweights, spoons, boxes, and vessels. In general, however, the Akan are not associated with silver; there are no lavish displays of this metal, which is seen only in scattered examples, usually overshadowed by the magnificence of gold. For this reason Akan ornaments of silver have attracted little attention and have never been the subject of comprehensive study The working of silver appears to have been a subsidiary aspect of the Akan goldsmith's craft. The rarity of items in this metal suggests that it was only a few craftsmen who produced the occasional article; it is unlikely that any Akan smith worked exclusively in silver. Most items of silver or silver alloy may have been produced in the coastal towns -  where the metal was more readily available from Europeans - and in the Asante capital of Kumase.

The Ghanaian lawyer J. B. Danquah once observed that "sex is not very important in the cultural expression of the Akan" (1956:5). This is borne out by a survey of Akan arts, for there is little that can be described as even mildly erotic. To this there is one notable exception: a small group of human-figure goldweights depicting a couple making love.

This subject is best known to seekers of Crowleiana through the tourist pieces that have been made in tens of thou- sands for many years. To judge by the avidity with which these are snapped up, they will soon be found in every junk shop from San Francisco to Singapore. They bear all the hallmarks of the genuine tourist piece: inferior workman- ship, total lack of artistry, and mass production of identical copies. I once spent an hour watching in horrid fascination as a small boy in the Asante casting village of Krofufurom deftly affixed the limbs and vital parts to a thousand identical wax models.