Kanga`s versatility, its colours have a special meaning

Among the coastal East Africans there is a tradition of sending a sanduku (suitcase) to the bride to be, containing the bride`s attire, household items and even gold.

The success of the sanduku depends on the number of pairs of kangas it contains.

Kanga, a simple piece of cotton cloth so strong and powerful and mythical, that is mesmerizes the womenfolk.

Kanga represents art, beauty, culture and customs of coastal women which has now spread to many part of Africa and the world.

An indispensable part of the east African women`s wardrobe, it may look like the normal part of a woman`s attire, but there is no more to it than meets the eye.

It is considered a source of embarrassment to the husband if he does not buy his wife a pair of kanga every now and then.

`I would not have minded if my husband had not bought me a chicken to revamp my lost energy after a difficult child birth`, says Khadija Mohammed a recently delivered young women, `but I would have minded like hell if he would not have bought me a pair of kanga as a gift.`

In the more cultured societies, kanga colours have a special meaning.

`We used to wear kangas bearing red and black colours during menstruation,` says Mtumwa, an old woman in her eighties.

`This made the husband aware that you were in the red and cannot give him any favours`.

Thus without words, the wife would inform her husband of her state.

White kangas were adorned during the full moon to symbolise the whiteness of the woman`s heart towards her husband.

Other bright coloured kangas were worn to match colourful waist beads of the woman to add to her attraction.

The messages on the kangas play a great role in the value of the wear.

The value is not only financial, but also emotional. A message in the kanga can make or break a friendship.

`The first thing I did when I received a gift of kanga from my husband was to read the message.` says Khadija.

`I was really amused to see that the message read `Titi la mama li tamu,' meaning the mother`s milk is the best, this made me realize that Hamisi wanted me to breastfeed our baby.`

During weddings, women from both the bride and grooms' families choose a design as an informal uniform to be worn during the celebrations, to solidify the unity of the two families.

A bride would wear a special design kanga with small crosses and rosettes called Kisutu as a symbol of her entering adulthood. The Kisutu kanga bears three colours, white, black and blood red.

These colours have significance, the red colour bears witness to her virginity, the black is the pain of being deflowered and the white is the colour of the male seed which she is going to see for the first time.

In divorce, a pair of kanga is given to her by her in-laws so that she can be washed in them to mark the end of their marital relationship.

Similarly, a divorced woman leaves behind a pair for her ex-husband, which is an omen for another marriage.

The kanga tells you immediately whether the wearer is in a happy or sad occasion.

Widows leave only the face and hands open. A mother who has lost her child has her stomach tied tightly with kanga showing that at the particular moment, she is experiencing the same pangs of labour.

Kangas are versatile, used as corsets for a just delivered woman.

Tightly clad around the midriff so that the enlarged uterus quickly shrinks to its normal size, making the woman retain her figure.

Moreover, they are used as shawls during religious or traditional ceremonies.

Therefore kangas can expose love, jealousy, hatred, rivalry and a host of other things.

However, care is always taken to see that regardless of how much one likes the design, if the message is not the correct one, then a sacrifice to the design is made.

Due to its everlasting prestige and value, kanga is famous all over the world, especially where there is a Mswahili.

Kanga has brought a great demand in business while acting as a form of communication especially among women.
East Africa is regarded as the womb of kanga.

Foreigners, be they black or white, Africans or non Africans, all leave with a pair or two after visiting the continent.