WELCOME
FAMILY FUN DAY 2014
Welcome to Africa
 Africa in its goodness is a
beautiful place with different
people traditions and culture.
 Though there are many
similarities its the differences
that make Africa so unique and
wonderful.
 There are over 3000 languages
spoken. There are many different
ethnicities. The terrain ranges
from large expanses of sandy
desserts to snow peaked
mountains.
Asante Royals
Asante royals in their rich
cloths, drawing their cloth
lower as a sign of reverence
and time-honored customs
when addressing Ote
kokooso (Occupant of the
Golden stool), Asantehene
(King of the Asantes) Nana
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II
Source: TripDownMemoryLane
Fabrics
West African fabric has
different kinds of designs
and patterns. Much of the
beauty of fabric is because
of the method used to
make it. Probably the
most popular West African
fabric is Kente, from
Ghana.
Efik men from Calabar, Nigeria
Procession of Efik men from
Calabar in Nigeria in their
impressive and traditional dressing
style during Carnival. The Efik are
an ethnic group located in
southeastern Nigeria.
Source: TripDownMemoryLane
KENTE
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The Kente cloth is
iconic because it is a
kind of woven fabric
that is recognised as
coming from Africa
through out the world
and is known for its
vibrant colours and
geometric shapes.
As it is the tradition he
is wearing yellow
which in Ghanaian
tradition is a symbol of
royalty and power and
is worn by people of
high status and
influence.
The making of Kente is
very unique and takes
a lot of space and is
carefully set out to
avoid knots or
mistakes being made.
This is a picture of Bill Clinton, Hilary
Clinton and Jerry J Rawlings in 1998
Modern
African
Fashion
Source:
AfricanFashionInspiration
Modern African Fashion
Source: AfricanFashionInspiration
Akan couple from
Ghana in their
Kente cloth
during their
traditional
wedding ceremony
at Accra, Ghana
Source: AfricanFashionInspiration
Modern
African
Fashion
Source: AfricanFashionInspiration
Source: AfricanFashionInspiration
Adire
Adire is a popular style of
making clothes in West Africa
particularly Ivory Coast, Gambia
and Nigeria. ‘Adire’ is the
Yoruba word for tie and dye and
has the literal meaning is tie
and soak. There are many ways
to make adire, it is not always
tied sometimes wax, starch
paste or clamping is used
instead of a string or wire to tie
the material. The technique of
tying is used to create a
symmetrical design which is
how all adire used to be.
Source: AfricanFashionInspiration
Ankara
Ankara is another type of fabric popular in West Africa. However in spite of
popular belief it is of European origin. It was originally intended for the
Indonesian market but was adopted by Africa and has since been adapted and
recognised as African print.
Ankara represents the culture and lifestyle of the West African people and has
gained much popularity and an identity as an African fabric.
Coral Beads
They may be used as fashion now but there
was a time when they had great meaning
and value. Corals are obtained from the
bottom of the sea - mined from coral
stones and made into jewellery. Coral has
a hard core that can be polished to bring
out a red, rose or pink colour.
They are usually worn in the delta state, in
Nigeria to show a high social status.
Indeed coral was once worn only by
royalty and the very rich. Nowadays in
some celebrations such as weddings,
depending on the part of Nigeria they are
from, the celebrants of the day may wear
them.
African
Head Wrap
Himba Girl, Namibia
Beautiful and smiling
Himba girl from Epuwa,
Kaokoland in Namibia
with her traditional two
plaited (braid) hairstyle
showing that she is virgin
and yet to hit puberty.
Source: TripDownMemoryLane
Ko Woman,
Burkina Faso
Ethnic Ko (Kolsi) woman from
Southern Burkina Faso with her
awesome tribal facial marks, that
identify her as Ko woman from
the larger Gurunsi ethnic group
of Ghana and Burkina Faso in
West Africa.
Source: AfricanFashionInspiration
Nzema Woman,
Ivory Coast
Nzema woman from Grand
Bassam in Ivory Coast (Cote
d`Ivoire), West Africa sitting
majestically in her palanquin
carried by strong men, as she
dance with her bodua (animal
tail) during the procession of
Kings and Queens at the
celebration of Nzema Abissa
Festival at Grand Bassam.
Nzema people also known as
Ndenye are descendants of the
Akan people in Ghana.
Source:
Source: AfricanFashionInspiration
Krobo Girls, Ghana
Krobo girls from Somanya in the Eastern Region of Ghana in their Dipo
(puberty) initiation outfit adorned in layers of glass beads and swathed in
lengths of printed and hand woven fabrics sitting down and waiting to
perform traditional klama dance. Their dressing shows that they have
completed their Dipo (puberty) out-dooring ceremony and their initiation
into womanhood.
Mami Wata
(Water Goddess)
Sand and shells drawing of Mami Wata at
Festival Of Black Deities
tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.co.uk
Peggy &
Joe Appiah
Joe Appiah (aka Abaaba s3), the
legendary Ghanaian lawyer,
maverick Nationalist leader and
one of the fighters of Ghana`s
independence with his British
aristocratic wife Peggy Appiah
(Enid Margaret Cripps), the
youngest daughter of Labour
politician and former chancellor
of Exchequer Sir Stafford Cripps.
Source: TripDownMemoryLane
African Food
This is Yam pottage from Nigeria.
This is known as asaro in Yoruba.
Ghanaian style boiled yam, with
garden egg and Ghanaian cooked
stew.
This is a yam used in a different way, this
is yam balls from Senegal.
YAM
Yam is a very popular crop in West Africa. It
takes an enormous amount of time and
labour to plant. In igboland in Nigeria it is
considered the ‘king of crops’, because
traditionally it was used as a measure of
wealth.
It is celebrated in Igboland, at the breaking of
the new harvest, this is known as Iwa Ji. The
yam is shared and a big thanksgiving is held.
Traditionally, the king would be the first to
eat then offer thanks to the gods because
the Igbos believe that king is the
intermediary between gods and the people.
Yam is often used in general cultural
celebrations because of the effort and time it
takes to prepare. Igbo people also present
yam at ceremonies such as weddings as it
traditionally indicates wealth.
West Africans have a diet filled with mostly rice, plantain, starchy based
foods such as fufu and pounded yam.
These foods are normally accompanied by a tomato based soup or stew.
However, in many cultures the groundnut is just as important as the tomato
There is also a common sauce in West Africa with a peanut base that has
been ‘re mixed’ in many West African cultures many countries. There are
many variations, has many different names and is eaten all over West
Africa.
Groundnut a very valued crop in West
Africa
This is a plate of rice adorned with
groundnut stew (peanut soup)
PALM KERNEL
The palm kernel is the
edible seed of the oil
palm tree.
The fruit yields two
distinct oils—palm oil
derived from the outer
parts of the fruit, and
palm kernel oil derived
from the kernel.
Source: wikipedia
PALM KERNEL& WWII
WWII British Empire palm kernel
propaganda: the first image is a fulllength depiction of an African man
climbing a tree to collect palm
kernels. The second image shows two
African women and a child sorting the
kernels. The third image depicts a
worker standing beside an industrial
food-production machine. The final
image
illustrates
three
British
infantrymen, seated near a battlefield,
eating biscuits.
Source: wikipedia
Peanut Stew
This is fish being cooked, that is
usually cooked with peanut oil in
Ivory Coast to give a unique taste
to the fish.
This is cassava leaf stew
complimented with rice. This stew
is prepared in Sierra Leone with
groundnut to give it that West
African flavour.
Karo Girls, Ethiopia
Karo girl from Omo valley in
Ethiopia painting face and
dressing the hair of her sister
lying on the ground with red
ochre clay to make her
beautiful so that she can
attract an attention of a
potential suitor at an occasion
in their village.
Source (picture): TripDownMemoryLane
Rwandan Bride
BEAUTIFUL
Rwandan
bride
(sitting in the middle, with two
small sticks tied to her hair as a
symbol of marriage) and her
equally beautiful bridesmaids at a
traditional wedding at Kigali in
Rwanda, Central Africa.
Source (picture): TripDownMemoryLane
Tiv Groom, Benue State,
Nigeria
Tiv groom from Benue State in
Nigeria and his best men at a
traditional wedding.
The woven black and white shawl
is a symbol of Tiv national
identity.
Source (picture): TripDownMemoryLane
Voodoo practitioners at
Ekpe Ekpe Festival
Benin Republic
Voodoo practitioners at Ekpe Ekpe
Festival at Ouidah,Benin. The Fon
kingdom was located in what is now
southern Benin, a region some
anthropologists refer to as the "cradle of
Voodoo." People also practice Voodoo in
Togo, Ghana and other countries in
northwestern Africa. Approximately 30
million people in Togo, Ghana and Benin
practice Voodoo today.
Source: National Public Radio: Radio Expeditions
Sankofa Symbol
The Sankofa symbol
appears frequently in
traditional Akan art and has
also been adopted as an
important symbol in an
African American and
African Diaspora context to
represent ‘the need to
reflect on the past to build
a successful future’.
Source: wikipedia
The
Baobab
Tree
“Wisdom is like
baobab tree. No
one individual
can embrace it.”
African Proverb
This is just a glimpse of Africa that offers an insight into a continent that is
filled with a collection of people, cultures and traditions recognised as
much for their differences as their similarities .
Thank you for coming today!!!