When Herero women married, they received a special traditional headdress to wear at social occasions for the rest of their lives. Made from leather, the back of the headdress has several symbols of cattle, which were central to the daily lives of the Herero pastoralists. The leather veil on the front was usually rolled up to look like cattle horns, and the trifolate shapes at the top represented cattle ears. A local blacksmith made the iron beads on this headdress, and their quality and number indicate that the woman who owned this was wealthy and had high status.