Bonda (Remo) Beadwork
I realize now more than ever, in my journey to discover universal beading culture that we truly all came from Africa.
The Orissa (Bonda/Bondo) tribe of India are so akin in style to African and Middle Eastern counterparts, that I can see the footprints that lead out of Africa in their faces, in their beadwork, in their melanin. Their beadwork and customary dress, in this case Bonda women, can be traced back to curses they believe were levied on them by a consort and Hindu avatar named Sita.
She cursed the women with baldness, and nakedness, which is why to this day the women still shave, adorning their bald heads in rows of glass seed beads, secured perfectly with tiny silver bobby pins.
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