Ankle chains, also known as anklets or ankle bracelets with beads are decorative ornaments worn around the ankle, combining a chain with beads for varying reasons and has been worn over eight thousand years across various cultures with meaning and relevance shifting significantly based on the cultural context, materials and individual choices.
In Nigerian culture, ankle chains and beads hold diverse and often complex meanings that vary significantly by ethnic group, historical context, and modern interpretation and can symbolize wealth, status, beauty, cultural identity, or marital status, though some modern societal misconceptions also associate them with promiscuity or specific lifestyles.
For the Board Member One, Post Primary Schools Service Commission, Awka, Dr. Uche Okeke, ankle chains or beads were worn by Igbo women and girls in the olden days but these days she sees those who wear them as being morally depraved, or a sign of one being an initiate to something not so good, and said that no reasonable mother will support her children to wear such things, adding that Anambra State education sector will not tolerate students wearing such.
However, Mrs Vivian Onyekwelu who is the Public Relations Officer, PPSSC Otuocha zone, said she does not wear ankle chains but sees them as a fashion items a lot of women and girls wear to show their beauty and mode of dressing.
