Ethnic jewelry of Ladakh

photo courtesy  Dietmar Temps

Ladakh is a dry, high-attitude region in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and its people have a highly distinctive style of dress and very unique and interesting jewelry. The most recognizable ornament of Ladakhi women is a turquoise studded headdress called perak. There is a post on my blog dedicated exclusively to the perak (here ) and in my today's article I want to tell about other jewelry worn by Ladakhi women. Perak, being an impressive ornament on its own, additionally serves as a perfect display for numerous other hanging jewelry pieces that can be attached to it. Those who can afford it attach a separate piece of cloth to the left side of the perak decorated with up to ten vertical lines of coral ending in cowrie shells. To hold the perak in place silver chains are used. Below the chains hang flat silver plaques, usually with an endless knot motif - the auspicious and luck-bringing design, one of the Eight Auspicious Emblems of Buddhism - from which dangle small bells.

Jewelry for Hindu deities

Adorned image of Khadga Jogini Goddess of Sankhu, Nepal

In Hinduism images of deities are traditionally decorated with jewelry. According to Hindu belief all precious metals and gem stones are believed to be ritually pure and any pollution or contamination they may catch is removed simply by washing. So such adornments are suitable for deities decoration.
The purpose of adorning the deity image with jewelry is to impress the mind of the viewer to whom such a show of wealth is awe inspiring.

Ethnic jewelry of the republics of Central Asia

Turkmen girl wearing traditional guljaka ornament. Photo source

The republics of Central Asia region are Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan and Turkmenistan. The culture of this area has been influenced over the centuries by the many foreign travelers of the legendary Silk Route as well as by the invasive tribal groups of Mongolia and has much in common. Jewelry worn by women of the region, though with some regional differences and preferences, has also much in common.
Gold, silver, turquoise and rubies were mined in Central Asia since ancient times, which led to development of the craft of jewelry-making. The types of jewelry worn by a person varied according to the wearer's age - girls and young women wore more jewelry than older women; social status - the richer the family, the larger and more diverse was the collection of jewelry worn by the woman; and the purpose of decoration: ornaments for festive occasions were most luxurious.

Nepalese ethnic jewelry: head ornaments

This is my fourth post dedicated to Nepalese ethnic jewelry. The previous ones were about nose ornaments, earrings and necklaces. And today's article will be focused on head ornaments. Perhaps, the most impressive head jewelry pieces belong to the women of Newar community. On the photo above you can see a girl wearing one of the most beautiful head decorations called lunya swan. This eye-catching piece is made of numerous floral and foliate elements and the whole composition looks much like a bunch of flowers with insects hovering over them. A touch of colour  is added in the form of red or green glass beads. It is worn like a hat on the back of the head and may be as large as 30 cm in diameter but the average size is between 15 and 20 cm.

Dressed to welcome Spring

Spring has officially started in Nepal. Yesterday was the festival here called Basant Panchami which marks the beginning of spring ("basant" literally means "spring") and at the same time, it is a festival dedicated to Saraswati, Goddess of knowledge, wisdom, arts and music. Saraswati is supposed to celebrate her birthday and at the same time she opens the doors of the spring season. People, mostly women and schoolchildren, pay homage to the image of Saraswati and sprinkle the goddess' image with grains, flowers, fruits and sweets. Look at the beauties in traditional attires that I caught with my camera.

Gold jewelry of the Asante

King Otumfuo Osei Tutu, the 16th Asantehene, King of the Ashanti. Photo source

Seeing an Indian or Sumatran bride one may be overwhelmed by the amount of gold jewelry they are traditionally decorated with. But if one happens to see the king of Asante in all his ceremonial attire the impact will be even more impressive.
Asante (Ashanti) used to be one of the most successful and powerful kingdoms of West Africa. Natural gold resources brought wealth and influence to the country. Gold dust was the currency and gold objects were symbols of power and prestige. The wearing of gold jewels and gold decorated regalia was restricted to the king and major chiefs, and certain of their senior officials and servants. Gold-dust which had been accumulated during a successful career could only be turned into regalia with the king's permission. The amount, size and form of gold ornaments used by officials at each lever of the hierarchy was strictly determined.