How to Interpret Kente Cloth Patterns
The people of Ghana wear Kente cloth for special occasions. It can also be a gift for weddings or baby naming ceremonies. Each Kente cloth has a different meaning depending on the pattern and colors used. While it's impossible to cover all the meanings, there are a few places to start.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Recognize the significance of the colors. The following colors are significant when woven into Kente cloth:
* yellow-symbolizing holy and precious things
* pink-symbolizing gentle qualities
* red-symbolizing strong political or spiritual feelings
* maroon-symbolizing healing and protection
* blue-symbolizing peace, harmony, good fortune and love
* green-symbolizing growth and good health; gold-symbolizing wealth, royalty and spiritual purity
* white-symbolizing purity and healing
* black-symbolizing aging and strong spiritual energy
* gray-symbolizing ashes for spiritual cleansing
* silver-symbolizing serenity, purity and joy
* purple-symbolizing healing -
2
Understand the concrete things the colors also stand for. For example, yellow represents the yolk of an egg while white symbolizes the white of an egg. Red stands for blood and maroon and purple are both associated with the Earth. Blue stands for the sky and green is associated with plants.
-
-
3
Understand the significance of the wefts. Some are obvious pictures while others are simply patterns. But each pattern on the Kente cloth has a different and significant meaning.
-
4
Read the warps. The warps of the Kente cloth are not readily apparent but fall behind the easily visible patterns. They give the cloth its underlying theme-in fact most Kente cloth is named for the warp.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Kente cloth is woven by the Ewe and Ashanti, both of whom live in Ghana. There are differences between the cloths woven by each of these people but one similarity remains-each Kente cloth is hand-woven by experts. Stitches of mere millimeters can change the meaning of a cloth.
Each Kente cloth is named and that name generally tells what the cloth signifies.
There are over 300 different patterns of Kente cloth. Some patterns' meanings are commonly known while others aren't. Occasionally only the weavers know the meaning behind a certain Kente cloth.
