Kayamota: Queen Evil of manipulative waist beads
Femi OGUNLANA
Waist beads (ileke idi in Yoruba) have been in use for a very long time, I will say all of us inhabiting this clime presently met them when we grew up. They are a type of jewelry worn around the waist or hips as a fashion accessory by women, and whose major purpose is to enhance their attractiveness and to show class. They are a symbol of beauty, status, wealth, sexuality, femaleness and maturity. Made of various items such as glass, metal, plastic etc strung on cotton thread, cord and the likes, beads are believed to give a kind of sensual sensation to the male folk when they see them jangling provocatively in the waist of a lady; they tinkle men who are enamoured with it. They represent one of the most enchanting beauty ornaments ever invented.
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From Yoruba land to Hausa land and all of West Africa waist adornments are a popular fashion statement embraced by many cultures. The Hausa people of Nigeria however are in possession of a special waist bead called “Kayamota.” This kayamota is often prepared, embedded or laced with a kind of infatuation charm, handed to a girl who has reached puberty and going into marriage; its purpose is to endear her fondly to her husband, and make her the apple of his eyes.
The Hausas do not see it as something harmful or anti-social; rather to them, it is a discovery that improves the bonding between a wife and a husband. It is a positive charm or spell that makes a wife enjoy the favour of her hubby. It is part of the eru iyawo (packages for a bride), used so that their daughter’s husband will love them extremely.
However, nowadays, when love of money has become deeply entrenched, women including secondary school girls are increasingly and scarily adopting kayamota for manipulative purposes.
The original purpose is mindlessly jettisoned to achieve a selfish end of controlling unsuspecting male folks. This magical love preparation doubt leaves a heavy toll on men, but of course the randy ones!
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Meanwhile, this manipulative charm is not only infused in beads, it can also be embed into powder that when a lady applies it she becomes irresistible and once slept with the potion springs into effect; it can also be sprinkled in drink or implanted in cream, they also use rings, common sweet, chewing gum, honey, tiro (eyelid potion), bed spread, incision (with scorpion), perfume etc, “it is grade by grade.” Some “unscrupulous married women” also use it on their husbands, it is disclosed. The primary goal is to acquire sexual power over men for advantages.
“Kayamota is a potent charmed waist bead that is now manipulated to exhort money from men,” a bead seller in Ogbomoso, who identifies herself, simply as Ajibola, says while speaking with ogbomosoinsightonline.com recently. “Kayamota originally belongs to the Hausa people given to the bride to adorn in her waist and hips so she can enjoy the favour of her husband, she wears it and as they make love the embellishment takes effect on the husband.”
She further notes, “But nowadays, wayward, desperate young girls, single mothers and women have hijacked it, they put it on to exhort money from men who can’t control their libido.”
Continuing, Ms Ajibola points out, “It is especially used on stingy randy men. Once a man has sex with a lady wearing kayamota, he is hooked to the lady; he is manipulated, he listens impulsively and does the bidding of the lady which often centres on demand for money and other undeserved favours. Such men if they are married easily forget their families, all what they think and do revolve round their ‘charmer.’ And the spell is difficult to break because it works like talisman.”
Ajibola adds that the kayamota now used by Yoruba ladies have different names and are serving various functions. These, she highlights, include “joko je” (stay put and listen to my requests), “gbeje” (do not distract me, just obey my commands), “nibi ni ma kusi” (here you will die, you can’t get away from me), “mondunmondun” (maximum pleasure) and so on, “so, It will be difficult for a man who has gotten hooked up to the manipulative bead to get free,” the woman maintains.
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She further stresses that kayamota is “a sure prevention against pregnancy. There are kayamotas that when worn the lady will never get pregnant, so, it is an effective family planning measure. That is why Hausa girls rarely get unwanted pregnancies.”
She discloses that while a normal waist bead could be sold for N500, the price of kayamota ranges from about N5, 000 per one, while adding that the mondunmondun one will give a licentious man immeasurable pleasure that “even if he is having sexual intercourse with his wife, his mind will not veer off the woman who had used kayamota mondunmondun on him.”
A public secondary school student, who however refused to give her name, corroborated this revelation when she spoke with ogbomosoinsightonline.com. She confessed to using the kayamota bead but that her teachers caught her recently.
According to the innocent-looking girl, “My mother and step-mother brought me to my school (name withheld) because I was absconding from home and so they wanted to know if I was regular in school. While the male vice principal they reported me to was beating me with cane for me to make confessions, a bead in my waist got struck and it got shattered thereby falling to the ground.
“That was a sight and it created curiosity; female teachers were summoned to have a look at my waist. I had about 20 something different beads on me that day and about ten were charmed but I still had kayamota which they spotted. It was a tug of war because I refused to remove the kayamota but after a lot of cajoling and coercion I succumbed and admitted to my waywardness.”
Pressed why she did not want the kayamota bead removed she disclosed an Igbo man made it for her in Abuja with a lot of money. “The moment it is removed, I knew they won’t give it back to me, and that is why I resisted its being taken from my waist. But they overpowered me.”
Asked what she used it for, she submitted, “I have male friends, boys and men. Anytime I asked for money they look for it and give me. I will have to contact the man who prepared it for me again.” This is as she said she lent the kayamota to her friends for a fee, “They give me from the money they make.”
However, she did not know if it had repercussions, ‘I don’t know,” she said matter-of-fact.
The vice principal mentioned above was contacted (he also preferred anonymity) and he confirms the incident, retorting, “The moment the kayamota was identified and she was asked to remove it, her countenance changed, insisting, ‘I will rather leave school,’ but our female teachers including elderly female vice principals persuaded her, that is when she agreed to remove it.”
A female teacher in another school, who also spoke under condition of anonymity, similarly disclosed that the use of kayamota has become rampant among their students and that in a week “as many as five students could be caught with these beads, you could find twenty different beads on the waist of a student among which you will find kayamota.”
But why would a man sleep with a lady wearing beads, the bead seller countered there were several men who love it when their “women” have beads on and some even play with the beads, “moreover, when they are horny, they lack the willpower to request the beads be removed and they won’t want to appear unsophisticated.”
It is a significant matter, however, this is the way things work, which is quite fascinating – women require money to navigate their surroundings, fulfill their needs, and this financial resource is often stashed in men’s pockets. Consequently, promiscuous men who seek to indulge their sexual desires without restraint become vulnerable targets and are frequently susceptible to being exploited. Such is the nature of the situation, the way the cookies crumble.
Yes, welcome to the world of kayamota, the Queen Evil of Waist Beads.
