TRADUguide - Your Guide to Translators and Translation Agencies

Previous English > Twi request >>

<< Next English > Twi request

Previous Twi > English request >>

English > Twi: Text about creating kente, one of the African textiles, 500 words

Text about creating kente, one of the African textiles. The text is about the weaving technique used, colors chosen, patterns used by the artist.

approx. 500 words

What would it cost to translate this text?

Regards


Example of text:
Kente cloth


A man in traditional kente cloth, and Ahenema (traditional slippers).
Kente cloth, known as nwentoma in Akan, is a type of silk and cotton fabric made of interwoven cloth strips and is native to the Akan ethnic group of South Ghana.



Kente Cloth, the traditional garment worn byAkans and the Kingdom of Ashanti royalty. Currently prevalent throughout Asante man.
Kente cloth has its origin with the Ashanti Kingdom, and was adopted by people in Ivory Coast and many other West African counties. It is an Akan royal and sacred cloth worn only in times of extreme importance and was the cloth of kings. Over time, the use of kente became more widespread. However, its importance has remained and it is held in high esteem with Akans.
Kente is predominantly made in Akan lands such as Ashanti Kingdom, (Bonwire,Adanwomase, Sakora Wonoo, Ntonso in the Kwabre areas of the Ashanti Region) and among Akans. Kente is also produced by Akans in Ivory Coast. Lastly, Kente is worn by many other groups who have been influenced by Akans. It is the best known of all African textiles. Kente comes from the wordkenten, which means basket in Akan dialect Asante. Akans refer to kente asnwentoma, meaning woven cloth.
The icon of African cultural heritage around the world, Akan kente is identified by its dazzling, multicolored patterns of bright colors, geometric shapes, and bold designs. Kente characterized by weft designs woven into every available block of plain weave is calledadweneasa. The Akan people choose kente cloths as much for their names as their colors and patterns. Although the cloths are identified primarily by the patterns found in the lengthwise (warp) threads, there is often little correlation between appearance and name. Names are derived from several sources, including proverbs, historical events, important chiefs, queen mothers, and plants.
The Maroon people of Suriname in South America are the descendants of people who were brought from Africa as slaves after the mid-1600s and who escaped to live in the forests of the interior, eventually obtaining the right of self-government from the colonial powers.[1] The Pangi cloth made by the Maroons is a cotton fabric with multi-colored vertical and horizontal stripes, similar to West African kente cloth.[2]
Symbolic meanings of the colors in Kente cloth



Akan Kente cloth color variations.
Meanings of the colors in Kente cloth:[3]
• black—maturation, intensified spiritual energy
• blue—peacefulness, harmony and love
• green—vegetation, planting, harvesting, growth, spiritual renewal
• gold—royalty, wealth, high status, glory, spiritual purity
• grey—healing and cleansing rituals; associated with ash
• maroon—the color of mother earth; associated with healing
• pink—assoc. with the female essence of life; a mild, gentle aspect of red
• purple—assoc. with feminine aspects of life; usually worn by women
• red—political and spiritual moods; bloodshed; sacrificial rites and death.
• silver—serenity, purity, joy; assoc. with the moon
• white—purification, sanctification rites and festive occasions
• yellow—preciousness, royalty, wealth, fertility, beauty
Traditions
A variety of kente patterns have been invented, each of which has a certain concept or concepts traditionally associated with it. For example, the Obaakofoo Mmu Man pattern symbolizes democratic rule; Emaa Da, novel creativity and knowledge from experience; and Sika Fre Mogya, responsibility to share monetary success with one's relations.
Legend has it that kente was first made by two Akan friends who went hunting in anAsanteman forest and found a spider making its web. The friends stood and watched the spider for two days then returned home and implemented what they had seen. West Africa has had a cloth weaving culture for centuries via thestripweave method, but Akan history tells of the cloth being created independent of outsider influence.

Kente Cloth Weaving
The kente cloth is woven on a narrow horizontal wood structure called a loom. A heddle is an integral part of a loom. Each thread in the warp passes through a heddle, which is used to separate the warp threads for the passage of the weft. The typical heddle is made of cord or wire, and is suspended on a shaft of a loom. Each heddle has an eye in the center where the warp is threaded through. As there is one heddle for each thread of the warp, there can be near a thousand heddles used for fine or wide warps. A handwoven tea-towel will generally have between 300 and 400 warp threads, and thus use that many heddles.
In weaving, the warp threads are moved up or down by the shaft. This is achieved because each thread of the warp goes through a heddle on a shaft. When the shaft is raised the heddles are too, and thus the warp threads threaded through the heddles are raised. Heddles can be either equally or unequally distributed on the shafts, depending on the pattern to be woven. In a plain weave or twill, for example, the heddles are equally distributed.
Pictured below is Kente being woven in the traditional way.

kente cloth weaving
The warp is threaded through heddles on different shafts in order to obtain different weave structures. For a plain weave on a loom with two shafts, for example, the first thread would go through the first heddle on the first shaft, and then the next thread through the first heddle on the second shaft. The third warp thread would be threaded through the second heddle on the first shaft, and so on. In this manner the heddles allow for the grouping of the warp threads into two groups, one group that is threaded through heddles on the first shaft, and the other on the second shaft.
The Kente loom usually uses four heddles (asanan), but in special cases, six or seven heddles (asasia) may be used.


Kente Weaving close-up shot
The cloth is woven in narrow strip (called ntomaban or bankuo) that is about 3-5 inches wide and about 5-6 feet long. Several strips are sewn together to make a wider piece of cloth for both men and women. A man’s cloth may contain up to 24 strips and measure about 5×8 feet. The woman’s two-piece cloth may contain 8-12 strips each piece.
Traditionally Kente is woven from silk however Kente woven from other threads such as rayon is just as authentic. The most important part of creating kente is the weaving technique used, colors chosen, patterns used and the skill of the artist

Language pair(s)

English > Twi

About the outsourcer

The outsourcer information has been removed because this job posting has already been closed.

You cannot place a quote anymore because this job posting has already been closed.