odumchi:

I provided you with the link that states it was taken in that era. Do you have any evidence that disproves it? Besides Ogbos didn't trade with Binis and Yorubas. I told you they traded with other Easterners. Here's a link of Igbo trade routes prior to 1900.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Igbo_Trade_Routes_before_1900.svg

well, the sources i quoted listed one trade route from ijebu to ijaw.

then another between ijaws and ndoki.

Akwete people did not learn weaving from Ijebu Ode. The contact with Ijebu Ode inspired innovation, but the industry itself did not come from Ijebu Ode.

well, cant find much info on ndoki, but they seem to be located in akwa ibom, abia and rivers states.

there's an ndoki in congo  but nothing to do with this topic i guess.

ChinenyeN:

Akwete people did not learn weaving from Ijebu Ode. The contact with Ijebu Ode inspired innovation, but the industry itself did not come from Ijebu Ode.

that's possible.

i think there was a prior weaving industry which got replaced by akwete mainly due to ijaw [consumer] demand.

at least, going by those links i quoted.

In regards to dancing with the fly-whisk, our girls/women hold a fly-whisk during the Mgbede ceremony/dance.

tpia@:

that's possible.

i think there was a prior weaving industry which got replaced by akwete mainly due to ijaw [consumer] demand.

at least, going by those links i quoted.

Other textile/weaving products were still being made alongside the renown Akwete products. So I wouldn't say that Akwete replaced them, more like overshadowed. And the overshadowing happened mainly because Akwete created a closed market industry. They were [if I'm not mistaking] the first in the area to make avid use of imported yarn and silk, and to top it off, they kept their weaving practices secret. So anyone who wanted the kind of cloth that Akwete made, could only get it from Akwete. They held a monopoly in the area until the 19th century, when neighboring communities learned the practice.

Aside from that, Akwete cloth was nicely made. The Ijo were not the only Akwete consumers. Other surrounding communities prized Akwete cloth just as much, but the Ijo were in active trade with Europeans, and so their demand for Akwete would be well established and well known, as opposed to other communities.

^interesting info, thanks.

No problem.

Ngwa,Dede Andrew,Resume duty.Lets have more pics

tpia@:

The photo i've been referring to is the one where the women are holding horsetails.

ie this one:






I hope nobody thought i meant the other pictures where the women were tying george or up and down which everybody knows is an igbo form of dressing.

This picture is commonly described as Igbo women just because at one time the picture was linked with a web page that dealt with African material and 'Igbo women' was mentioned and became a search term. If you check the origin of the picture, you will find out that these women in fact are not Igbo women, but women from what is now Edo State.

"Northern Edo: the Northern or Akoko Edo are a culturally diverse range of peoples living in small villages to the south and west of the town of Okene. Alongside a lot of very obscure and localised traditions of cloth decoration, they wove fine indigo wrappers from hand-spun cotton. The picture below (taken in the 1960s) shows senior women from the royal family in a small village called Somorika wearing locally woven cloths, some of which mix hand spun cotton with white linen-like thread obtained from tree bark."

Link: http://www.adireafricantextiles.com/nigerianwomen2.htm

Below is a 'noble' Igbo woman of Onicha in a funeral for a late Obi in the 60s, one of the ways you could tell those Edo women weren't Igbo is because Igbo women are known for wearing two wrappers, and in the olden days married women wore ivory bracelets. Their coral-beaded hair is also something uncommon to Igbo communities, at least, east of the Niger.

By the way horses were traded in Igboland for centuries from the north, they just didn't stay alive.

[center][/center]

^Who is your post meant for?

Alongside a lot of very obscure and localised traditions of cloth decoration, they wove fine indigo wrappers from hand-spun cotton. The picture below (taken in the 1960s) shows senior women from the royal family in a small village called Somorika wearing locally woven cloths, some of which mix hand spun cotton with white linen-like thread obtained from tree bark."

anyway, here's some info on precolonial weaving industries in yoruba and benin. The clothes were exported to other parts of nigeria and ghana as well. Europe also.

http://books.google.com/books?id=QKD_VNQ0MF4C&pg=PA42&dq=akoko+cloths&hl=en&ei=P4BSTsGhJcnr0gH96rDiBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=akoko%20cloths&f=false

ifyalways:

Ngwa,Dede Andrew,Resume duty.Lets have more pics

can you spell out exactly what you're saying for those of us who are a bit slow to get it?

Ngwa is the equivalent on oya

Odumchi can you please translate your siggy for me.I could not get past "onye ukwu zuo".Thanks.

No problem, thanks for the interest

It says "A poor man steals maggi and the police hang him. A rich man steals money and they shake his hand"

Ok.Thanks.I wud write it this way "Nwa mgbei zuo maggi,ndi police a kugbuo ya,onye ukwu zuo,ha a na(ra) ya aka".

Ok thanks

modern day igbo lady.

^That girl is pretty.I dikwa sure na obu onye Igbo,maka ndi uta

ifyalways:

^That girl is pretty.I dikwa sure na obu onye Igbo,maka ndi uta

O kwa nwunnem nta

ifyalways:

^That girl is pretty.I dikwa sure na obu onye Igbo,maka ndi uta

Ndi uta ma atariri uta

The status of the Igbo women now is all inclusive and tolerant to those who were not originally Igbo. What prevails now is the Igbo culture which the new arrivals have adopted. This makes them Igbo as well. What do you think?.

Lol, my brothers no dey hear word. Ha na-akupagide ebe obula ugbo bujere ha. Lovely picture, dede Andrew.
Acceptance of other or foreign women is embraced and encouraged now though a few communities still place a sort of limitation to the so called "acceptance". Their is a special status and endless possibilities in the community, church etc to an "umuada" and "Nwa di ani" while for foreign women (sometimes)include Igbo women married from other another Igbo town, same can't be said, little segregation here and there , can't contest for okwa na nzuko "Christian mothers" etc. Very common in ideato area.
Lovely picture Andrew.
@odumchi, eziokwu. Lol