AFRICAN BEADS on BBC. PROGRAM CALLED "GHANA'S ANCIENT BEADS"

April 16 or 17,2010 the British Broadcasting Company did a program on African Beads from Ghana.  The program is called "Inside Africa" and the segment  is "Ghana's Ancient Beads Back in Vogue".  You can see it on cnn.com/inside Africa. Not only do you learn about beads, the program is an interesting quick visit to Ghana.

Some of the quotes were "" It's not just colors. Where i'm from, if you wear something like blue it's purity,white is fertility, gold is wealth. I know what it means so it is precious to me." Tairee

There is a "culture of sankofa in Ghana." It means "go back and retrieve what you've left behind".  Ernestina Anafu, bead shop owner . She was referring to the long history of beads in Ghana. The gold color Bodum glass beads, shown in the adner-bergart.com necklace above, represented weath and were owned by African kings. They are at least 100 yrs old. The turquoise center bead and the rectangular olive green beads are new recycled glass beads .  The turquoise glass beads are Czech circa 1920 and the rust satin finish beads are Murano glass circa 1950.