When beads collide
As a child I was really intrigued by beads, they seemed like small worlds floating in their own little universes. In fact their shape generally suggests a planet, like many forms inspired by the natural world they have an allure hard to pinpoint. I suppose it is this purity of form that makes beads so very universal, almost every culture has their version of beads.
The planet like shape of beads is further suggested by the various topographies offered on the surface of beads, swirling clouds, forests, lofty mountains, all can be seen on the microcosm that some beads are. Natural material beads further this metaphor with organic patterns to suggest landscape. I offer the following creation myth from the southern Philippines as testament to the planet like quality of beads.
“Once in the time when the sky was close to the ground a spinster went out to pound rice. Before she began her work, she took off the beads from around her neck and hung them on the sky. She began pounding her rice with her pestle and each time that she raised it into the air it struck the sky. She raised her arms so high at last that it struck the sky and sent it high beyond her reach. Her lost necklace of beads became the moon and stars that we see to this very day… need I say more.