E0162: Zulu- Grass Skirt

Ethnographic

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Identifier:

E0162

Classification Category:

3:Personal Artifacts ➞ Clothing ➞ Outerwear

Materials:

botanical ➔ fiber

Dimensions:

72.5 cm W
51 cm H

Provenance of Object:

This object was held in the museum that Luther College started in 1877. This museum eventually grew into the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, and following this, non-Norwegian American ethnographic objects were returned to Luther and accessioned into the college’s Anthropology Collection. Without additional documentation, was likely obtained by the Luther College Museum (later the Norwegian-American Museum) between the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Use/Function:

The women of the Zulu tribe wear clothes based on their marital status. Unmarried Woman who are available are proud of displaying their figure/body. So they only wear short skirts made of grass or decorate their skirts with beads. Single women do not wear anything on the upper portion of their bodies and they keep their hair short. Engaged women let their hair grow and she covers her breast with a decorative cloth. This is a sign of respect to her future family; this also indicates to the community that she has been spoken for. Married Woman covers her body completely signalling to other men that she is taken. When a young girl gets married, she then has to wear certain colored beads in her hair and around her skirt so that everyone in the village can see that she is married.

Source Locality:

Natal, South Africa

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