The Horniman Museum will be closed from 24-26 December. The Horniman Gardens will be closed 25 December only.
Beaded Luo cap. Open beadwork using red, white, blue and ocre imported glass beads.
Beaded caps such as this are traditionally worn by Luo son-in-laws when visiting the homesteads of their fathers-in-law as a sign of courtesy. Some believe that it is taboo for ones headgear to fall on the ground and so it is important for caps such as this to fit snuggly. Should this happen one may have to seek out a local practitioner to perform 'manayasi', a cleaning ritual.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk
