Seguidores

segunda-feira, 25 de agosto de 2008

Dida Textiles


For ceremonial occasions, the Dida plait strands of raffia into loincloths and skirts, cloaks and kerchiefs.
The Dida do not sculpt, and consider their fabrics their prime treasures.
These textiles are quite rare, and on the wish list of many museums because they are no longer made.
Mostly used for ceremonial dances, the gauzy, vibrantly colored fabric is made of raffia palm fiber that is then tied and resist-dyed and re-dyed in a striking pattern of rectangles, ovals and circles.
The palette of yellow, red and black is derived from plant roots, leaves and minerals.
Across the Bandama River, West Atlantic cultures are represented by Kru peoples, probably the oldest of Côte d'Ivoire's present-day ethnic groups.
Traditional Kru societies were organized into villages relying on hunting and gathering for subsistence and descent groups tracing relationships through male forebears.
They rarely formed centralized chiefdoms. The largest Kru population in Côte d'Ivoire is the Bété, who made up about 6 percent of the population in the 1980s.