Ghana - Kente Cloth
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Photo: Penny Tweedie/Oxfam |
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Kente cloth is unique to Ghana and is widely used for ceremonial
costumes, weddings, naming ceremonies and so on. Kente is woven
in long narrow strips, about five to six inches wide and 12 yards
long. The centre of Kente weaving is the village of Bonwire, near
Kumasi.
Weaving is considered to be men’s work – you don’t
find women weaving Kente, but you may find that they will be the
ones sewing the strips of cloth together, and you can often find
women involved in marketing the cloth.
Kente is very colourful; the weavers use all different colours
together, and the designs may be triangular, hexagonal, all sorts
of geometric shapes. For a ‘full-man cloth’ between 22
and 24 strips are needed. The looms they use are traditional narrow
looms.
Kente cloth is really for special and ceremonial use. In a family
it is always passed on from father to son or mother to daughter,
and it is treated as a treasure in every home.
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