Cowrie Shell

Cowrie, or cowry, is the common name for the sea snails of the family Cypraeidae and for their shells. The shell is usually smooth, glossy and roughly egg-shaped, with a long, narrow and often toothed slit along its flat underside; most have a porcelain-like shine, many are boldly patterned, and they run from about 5 mm to 19 cm long. The word comes through Hindi from Sanskrit, and porcelain is named after the old Italian word for the shell. Cowries are most plentiful in the Indian Ocean, and for centuries the money cowrie served as currency in Africa, India and China; British West Africa accepted them for taxes into the twentieth century, and Ghana’s cedi is named after them. The Yoruba of West Africa cast them in divination, Brazilians use them, as búzios, to consult the orixás, and astrologers in Kerala have divined with them too. The Ojibwe use them as miigis shells in Midewiwin ceremonies, and in eastern India they are used at cremations and in the worship of Lakshmi. In parts of Africa they were prized as charms linked with fecundity, sexual pleasure and good luck, and Mende and Kikuyu culture sees them as symbols of womanhood, fertility, birth and wealth. In Hoodoo, cowries found at Stagville Plantation in North Carolina were used to connect with the spiritual element of water; in West Africa they corresponded to the water spirits.