Quick facts about the Zulu Letter

For those who don't want to trawl through sites and books to find out what a Zulu love letter is all about I have made a list of quick facts to cover the basics. This is the quick and dirty way to cram info so if you interested in the full story then check out the full version on my blog - Geek Streets.

Here are the quick facts!

• What is it?
• It is a message conveyed using symbolically coded beadwork. 

• Why is it used?
• It is used to convey feelings of love and affection.

• Who makes them?
• Zulu maidens. 

• What influences the coding?
• The colours combined
• The way the colours are arranged
• The use of the object
• That nature of the object

• What do the colours mean?
• Black - grief and loneliness. 
• White - purity, hope and true love. 
• Yellow - wealth.
• Green - love sickness and jealousy.
• Blue - loyalty.
• Red - intense love. 

• Where do these meanings come from?
• From nature. Eg. Red - intense love, because red is the colour of blood (igazi) hence the saying "my heart bleeds for you". 

• How do you read it?
• Traditionally they had a long single strand of beads and then reading it from one end to the other. Now with the square design you read the message from the outside toward the center. 

Now see how this one is read...starts from the outside with loneliness and grief then advances to the center while conveying various other emotions.