Antique Samburu / Masaai African Tribal Mporro Collar Married Woman’s Necklace

Description

This is an antique Samburu tribal peoples Mporro collar also known as a Married Woman’s Necklace which is worn by the married women of the Samburu tribe in North-Central Kenya to show their married status.
The Samburu tribe reside in Northern Kenya in the Rift Valley. The Samburu people are closely related to the Masaai and speak a similar language. However, for all their similarities they are two distinctive tribes with their own traditions. Traditionally the Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists who keep cattle as well as sheep, goats and camels. Their diet consists mostly of milk and sometimes blood from their cows, just like the Masaai, as well as roots and vegetables. Because of the cattle they need to find new grazing grounds every 5-6 weeks. Because of there nomadic travels their wealth is kept in the jewelry they wear and in their animals. Also, for the Samburu the jewelry they wear communicates social status for both the men and the women. Since most Samburu girls start collecting necklaces around the age of 7 or 8 most younger women have a collection of necklaces worn altogether that reach the bottom of their chin by the time they are married in their late teens. Once married the women then wear the traditional Mporro collar which shows their married status. This antique tribally made and worn stunning Mporro collar is made from three layers of palm fiber with four separate leather wraps heavily decorated with red ochre all combined to make one collar. The center of this Samburu neck collar is decorated in a panel of antique red Venetian trade beads with Czechoslovakian trade beads around the perimeter. There is also antique Czech beads woven into the necklace on the inside front of the necklace and along the base.
This amazing necklace measures 11 inches long from the back base to the front and 10.50 inches wide at the widest spot and weighs 1 pound 3 ounces. This amazing and rare piece of
Samburu
adornment would be perfect for adding to any African Jewelry or Art collection and would be a gorgeous focal point for home
décor
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The tribal peoples of Africa love to decorate their bodies with a variety of body paint, scarification, animal fat, red ocher or mud and occasionally with tattoos as seen with the Ethiopian Coptic Christians. The men and women of Africa adorn themselves with elaborate beads and jewelry which are not only worn as adornments but which also symbolize achievements and status, age and marital status, reflect beliefs and values, have ritual and ceremonial meaning and which offer protection against evil and/or disease.