Girl's girdle

Adi people, Sadiya Frontier Tract, India

Collected and Donated by James Philip Mills 1931 1928.69.1461These bronze discs are known as beyop and were worn strung on a strip of cane to form a girdle or apron. Worn by Adi (meaning 'hill') girls from the time they learnt to walk as an infant until the birth of her first child, the beyop were intended to ward off evil spirits

The number of beyop corresponds to the age of the wearer; this example, collected in the early 20th century, has seven discs indicating that the wearer was seven years old.