Personal Adornment

THE XHOSA OF SOUTH AFRICA
Bead works
The Xhosa were, and still are, known for the magnificence and variety of their beadwork. Traditionally, their garments and ornamentation reflected the stages of a woman's life: a certain headdress was worn by a newly married girl; a different style by one who had given birth to her first child, and so on.
  
Symbolism in Xhosa Beadwork
Little is known about the color symbolism of Xhosa beads apart from white. In early times, red beads were associated with Xhosa royalty, and they were offered when an elephant was killed (Shaw & Van Warmelo 1988:624).
 Beadwork
Among the many diverse ethnic groups of the South African region, the Xhosa peoples have an especially rich tradition of beaded regalia. This elegant textile skirt, also known as an isikhakhaor imibhaco, is one example of the incorporation of beadwork into garments.

Xhosa people commonly wear a plain white (or occasionally red) wrapper. In this case, a white cotton blanket has been colored with ocher, yielding a rich reddish-brown fabric that was then cut and sewn into three sections to form art work.
However, little is known about the color symbolism of Xhosa beads apart from white and case in point is that in early times, red beads were associated with Xhosa royalty, and they were offered when an elephant was killed.Different terms applied to opaque and translucent red, and special terms described translucence itself although it is stated that every color was symbolic among the Thembu in Qebe and one specifies only that yellow beads symbolized fertility and green represented new life.

Many Xhosa men and women dress similarly to people in Europe and the United States. Pants for women have only recently become acceptable and a result of missionary influence, it has become customary for a woman to cover her hair with a scarf or hat.
THE XHOSA CLOTHING
Many rural women fold scarves or other clothes into elaborate turban shapes and they continue to apply white or ochre-colored mixtures to their bodies and faces.  Women also are fond of wearing the Textile Skirt made up of Cotton, glass beads, buttons and ocher.For generations the Xhosa people have been referred to as the Red Blanket People. This was because of their custom of wearing red blankets dyed with red ochre, the intensity of the colour varying from tribe to tribe.
The different ways in which clothes and other accessories were worn signaled the status of the wearer. Unmarried women wore wraps tied around their shoulders, leaving their breasts exposed. Engaged women reddened their plaited hair, letting it screen their eyes, as a sign of respect for their fiancés.

 INITIATION AMONG THE XHOSA

One traditional ritual that is still regularly practiced is the manhood ritual, a secret rite that marks the transition from boyhood to adulthood (Ulwaluko). Young boys from traditional families must go through the khwetha or circumcision school. Khwetha is regarded as an essential step into manhood. The youth's departure for the initiation lodge is a significant event and may be marked by the sacrifice of a goat. The lodge is usually located in a remote location near a stream and specially built for the purpose.
After a period of seclusion, young initiates smear their naked bodies with white clay and are covered in a single blanket or, in the old days, a sheepskin kaross. The white clay serves to conceal their identity and protect them from evil.