Thread: The meaning of a coin belt???

Hi fellow dancers! I had been told that a coin belt stood for the days that woman danced and were given coins for their artwork-belly dance. I don't know if I that is true and I've been researching, but to find no answers! What a better place to come to learn than from my fellow bhuzzers. Anyone know? Thanks!

there are many cultures that wear dowry on their garments(usually with tall males with long knives standing very close by, as i think it was more nomadic), but in some cultures, it's the prostitutes that did so, so very hard to say.........

if anything, it may be cuz it made a cool noise :D

i've heard several stories about this and the jury is still out

Well, I do know that a long time ago, Arab Women would wear jingly items on their bodies as adorment and to attract male attention. It may be derived from that.

My husband reads alot about the arabic culture, He said some thing about wives and daughters wearing all the $ and jewlery on there body to keep it safe, Becuause leaving it in your tent/yurt while at market could get it stolen. Of course there would be then men there to protect it, and it was never exposed always under the clothing/robes.... Dont quote me though.....

Also heard from another dancer, that a girl would wear it on her body to show what a good dancer she was, the more she had the better she was.....again dont quote me

Originally Posted by bdance

Hi fellow dancers! I had been told that a coin belt stood for the days that woman danced and were given coins for their artwork-belly dance. I don't know if I that is true and I've been researching, but to find no answers! What a better place to come to learn than from my fellow bhuzzers. Anyone know? Thanks!

I have seen photos of women wearing their dowry as part of head dress or a necklace - but none that wear it as a belt. (Once I finish my new traditional costume section on my website, I'll let you know)

According to Morocco the beaded and coined hip scarves were invented by dancers in the States. Edwina Nearing/ Qamar el Moulouk talked Mahmoud abd el Ghaffar into making hip wraps with coins. Later Lucy Smith/ Scheherezade and Morocco talked him into doing them with crocheted beaded fringes.

I suspect that the theory of coins belts as traditional payment worn is a Rene-Faire myth: cobbling together fact about tribal wearing of dowry/money and Yee Oldee Imagery...

Wearing your worth is an idea that continues to this day. For nomadic tribes, and some Romani families (think images of Romani girls wearing coins in their braids) banks are not an option (due to constant moving, discrimination, or general distrust of structures outside their culture) jewelry and coin decoration is because you are your own traveling bank. You also can find this in India with women because of oppressive laws not allowing them to open accounts/ be in charge of money in some parts.

There is a lovely NPR blurb about some stunning Afghani artifacts recently discovered that were probably used in similar ways:
Afghanistan's Hidden Treasures on Display in D.C. : NPR

Originally Posted by ozma

There is a lovely NPR blurb about some stunning Afghani artifacts recently discovered that were probably used in similar ways:
Afghanistan's Hidden Treasures on Display in D.C. : NPR

I went to see that exhibit on Wednesday (highly recommended!!!), and I thought of the fact that these nomads may have used their decorated clothes as their own, mobile bank when I saw the discussion here.

Thanks for the link, too.

Originally Posted by ozma

...Yee Oldee Imagery...

SNORT!!!!!!!!

Wearing your worth is an idea that cintinues to this day. For nomadic tribes, and tsome Romani families (think images of Romani girls wearing coins in their braids) banks are not an option (due to constant moving, discrimination, or general distrust of structures outside their culture) jewelry and coin decoration is because you are your own traveling bank. You also can find this in India with women because of oppressive laws not allowing them to open accounts/ be in charge of money in some parts.

There is a lovely NPR blurb about some stunning Afghani artifacts recently discovered that were probably used in similar ways:

There was also an interesting NPR story recently about how the rising price of gold is affecting the Iraqi marriage practice of grooms buying significant amounts of gold jewelry for their brides. One of the interesting aspects of this story was that because of the dire economic situation in Iraq, women's bridal gold is now critical to the survival of families. The gold jewelry is literally a bank account.

Gold Prices Strike Cultural Blow in Iraq : NPR


Nisaa

Originally Posted by steffib

I went to see that exhibit on Wednesday (highly recommended!!!), and I thought of the fact that these nomads may have used their decorated clothes as their own, mobile bank when I saw the discussion here.

Thanks for the link, too.

Curse you and your access to the exhibit!

I've also heard the dowry story. I also heard that it was to show that the dancer was independently wealthy enough to choose her own husband. It basically represented a woman's self-wealth and independence. I believe this bit was from Turkish descent.

BDF

Originally Posted by ozma

Curse you and your access to the exhibit!

It was hard-earned: Five hours in a very old, noisy car without AC, with a husband in the passenger seat who (ab)used me as a sounding board for his research project design :-)

Originally Posted by steffib

It was hard-earned: Five hours in a very old, noisy car without AC, with a husband in the passenger seat who (ab)used me as a sounding board for his research project design :-)

Ok, I'll give you that....but I am on the wrong side of an ocean.

Coins were worn as jewelry and on garments by the Ouled Nail female dancers of North Africa, but their dances were not what we call belly dance today and to my knowledge they didn't wear a "coin belt" at the hips.

All bedlah type costumes including coin costumes for oriental dance were created for the stage.

Originally Posted by steffib

I went to see that exhibit on Wednesday (highly recommended!!!)

I keep saying I'm going to see that. I need to get off my lazy bum!!

Originally Posted by annwyn

My husband reads alot about the arabic culture, He said some thing about wives and daughters wearing all the $ and jewlery on there body to keep it safe, Becuause leaving it in your tent/yurt while at market could get it stolen. Of course there would be then men there to protect it, and it was never exposed always under the clothing/robes

In some places in the gulf you can still see some women loaded down with ALL their gold at once. I think the same rings true for other Arab States.

Originally Posted by ssipes

All bedlah type costumes including coin costumes for oriental dance were created for the stage.

This is my understanding as well, although when I tell people they never seem to want to believe it. Just not romantic enough, I guess.

Wearing coins in jewelry or clothing is part of the dowry tradition where a woman's wealth is passed from mother to daughter. In some ways the coins are kept safe on one's person, but coins, gold and silver jewelry do two other things as well--they provide ready form of barter in the WOMAN'S possession and advertise the wealth of the family to the mothers of eligible sons.

It is sort of like the Jewish tradition that Judaism is passed through the mother--you are Jewish if your mother is Jewish--becauase in a nomadic or warlike society you may not always know who the father is, but you know who gave birth to a child.

Souzan

Oh Great Answers! Thank you all so much for your valuable input! You're all awesome!

He said some thing about wives and daughters wearing all the $ and jewlery on there body to keep it safe, Becuause leaving it in your tent/yurt while at market could get it stolen. Of course there would be then men there to protect it, and it was never exposed always under the clothing/robes...

Yeah, but wearing all your worth on your *arse* is just impractical. In conclusion, coin belt = theatre.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Yeah, but wearing all your worth on your *arse* is just impractical. In conclusion, coin belt = theatre.

Yes, I hope that is the clear take-home message for the thread. The belly dance coin belt does not represent a worn dowry.

This is a nice segue into busting another myth: belly dance as we know it evolved more or less around the turn of the 20th century. It is not "the most ancient dance". The folk dances that gave rise to it may be quite old, although even for those we have no evidence one way or another of how they originated.

I don't have the knowledge to comment on any precise 'meaning' of the coin belt, though I will confess a certain degree of skepticism about some of the 'dowry' theories.

What I do know:

1) As a former art historian, I can tell you that people are always looking for meaning in visual displays. Sometimes there may be one but often the overriding reason is a much more prosaic 'because its kind of cool/because its there').

2) I lived for 2 years with an Iranian girl who told me at length about the importance of displaying gold in her culture. She could never comprehend my preference for silver jewellery because to her, a public show of at least some gold was 'dressing your best' whereas silver was inferior and 'not making an effort'. She showed me photos of her house and family absolutely decked out with bling even on an average day. She also pointed out that gold has traditional associations with purity and this was important too.