(Note: this is what mine looks like, but I didn't take this photo (where's my camera?!). Photo belongs to TribalKitty)

So today, after planting tons of green bean plants, I launched into what I thought would be a complicated process to fix a slightly damaged hinge on my wonderous new tribal spike cuff. I'd resisted the somewhat obsessive drive to order two so that they matched, so this one is even more important. =p (Oh yeah, I'm reeeally serious about bracelets. Long story there.) It turned out to be an easy job (Thanks, Faststeel!), but all that fiddling got my brain wandering.

This cuff is Waziristani handiwork, which I learned from looking at tribal bellydance sites, particularly Tribal Souk. Waziristan is a tiny region between North Pakistan and Afghanistan, a religiously conservative area broken into the tribes of the North and South. The people there "have a formidable reputation as warriors and are known for their frequent blood feuds" (Wiki).

Looking at this bracelet, my brain starts churning up all sorts of dramatic tales in the lives of the people who made it and maybe wore it. Was it worn by a woman kept shrouded in a burka in her home? Or by a tribal leader on his way to engage in one of these frequent blood feuds? Or did it belong to a little kid who wore it just because he thought it was neat? Is it possible that some of the dings in it are from the wearer diving for cover from one of our own bombs? Who knows. But it's interesting to think about.