For centuries, the glass beads made in Murano and other European cities where brought into Africa by the merchants who used them as an exchange of goods for gold, ivory and slaves. Today, mosaic glass can be found all over Africa, but one peoples in particular, the Krobo of Ghana, have turned it into a real cult. Every Krobo clan jealously guards its oldest beads which are only worn for ritual occasions. The main ritual is the Dipo festival, the initiation rite which marks the passage of the girls into adulthood. The climax of the festival is when the girls, adorned with the glass beads which represent the total wealth of their families, dance around the city, showing off their beauty and that of their glass treasures.
