African Crafts Market

African grass reed jewelry

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Elephant hair has been used for many generations in African in jewelry or bangle design is some form or another. With the modern world it has become harder to obtain Elephant hair so we now make these up with a grass reed fiber that looks almost the same as real Elephant hair but with material that is more readily available.
Cites laws require that any Elephant product being exported from South Africa now needs to have a Cites permit to be allows to be exported. This can be obtained in South Africa by local conservation authorities but we many years ago stopped selling genuine Elephant hair products when these new laws came out as it is not viable to go through the process to obtain the Cites permit to export these.

Tradition of these bracelets however states that

"BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY HAS BELIEVED THAT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH IS THE ELEPHANT. IT IS BELIEVED THAT BY WEARING A BRACELET YOU WILL BE PROSPEROUS AND HEALTHY AND NOT BECOME SICK OR POOR. THE VARIOUS STRANDS OF HAIR ARE BELIEVED TO REPRESENT VARIOUS ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE: HEALTH, WEALTH, LOVE, WELL BEING, AND HARMONY ETC. THE KNOTS REPRESENT THE HANDS OF GOD -GOD HAS MANY HANDS. ONE SIZE FITS ALL VERY MANY AFRICAN PEOPLE WEAR ELEPHANT HAIR JEWELRY -MANY FAMOUS PEOPLE ALSO WEAR THEM."

The hair of the Elephant that is used to make traditiobal bracelets come from the end of the Elephants tail (as seen in the photo below) The hair can grow to some length and can reach lengths of up to 30cm in length. In older Elephants the hair turns white which show really old and rare hair.

Elephant hair is legal in South Africa (provided you have the correct papwerwork) and you will see Elephant hair Jewelry in some crafts markets and jewelry stores. Elephants in South Africa are actually thriving to the point where it is causing a problem for some of the national game reserves who are running out of space for them.

All grass reed Jewelry is handcrafted which adds to the uniqueness of each piece.

To view details of each piece of Jewelry click on the MORE INFO link next to each piece of Jewelry.