Beadwork became increasingly popular after 1900 when the Maasai began trading with Europeans in nearby Kenya and Tanzania for beads made out of glass and plastic, but it has always been an important aspect of their culture. Traditionally local raw materials such as seeds, skins, copper, bone, gourd and wood were used in the craft. Maasai women have always sat together between their daily tasks of looking after the children, milking the cows, cooking, and constructing homes and animal pens to sit together and make beaded jewelry. To this day beadwork is an important means through which women demonstrate their social understanding and creative capability. Jewelry is created mostly for its beauty, which is a very important aspect of Maasai culture. But jewelry is also created and given in the Maasai community to signify special relationships, such as a young couple engaged to be married, or on special occasions, such as the celebration of a successful lion hunt, or worn for one of many ceremonies, like the naming ceremony, or the warrior ceremony, which indicate a rite of passage in the life sequence of the Maasai. If a woman constructs a piece of jewelry that is awkward or unappealing, the other women might tease her and quickly point out the flaws in her work. In this way, women learn the rules of the aesthetic eye. This is essential because the color combinations and patterns in Maasai beadwork rely on contrast and balance to create pieces that are eye-catching. Colors also reflect important concepts and elements in Maasai culture. Because the Maasai are traditionally a pastoral people, much of the color symbolism relates to cattle. Because white is the color of milk, which comes from a cow, considered by the Maasai as a pure and holy animal, white represents purity. White also represents health, because it is milk that nourishes the community. Black represents the color of the people but more importantly the hardships we all go through in life. It suggests that difficult times occur with everyone because those difficulties are part of the same, natural sequence of life.