beads (adornments)

Dark blue and white beads (ma'ik).

Kalasha women wear layer upon layer of bead necklaces (ma'ik) such as these. For festivals and other special occasions even more necklaces can be added. Orange was the most common colour in 2014, but red has been very popular in the past and women often wear strings of different coloured beads along with their orange beads. By 2018 the fashion had changed again and many women were wearing only one or two necklaces with the bead colours chosen to match the embroidery on their dresses.

Collection Information

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The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive.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