Description
- Material 100% cotton cambric
- Dimensions: 100×160 cm
- Pattern artwork of bees
- Hand wash only for best results
- Using traditional Kanga design structure
The ‘kanga’, also known as ‘leso’ is a printed cloth made of cotton that is commonly used by women all over the East Coast of Africa, and the Middle East. During the 1870’s, Muslim women in Zanzibar, Kenya and Mombasa purchased printed bandanas, a product of import from Portugese traders. They sewed 6 of the bandanas (leso’s) together to make a bigger piece of cloth that was then worn for the purpose of modesty.
Early in the twentieth century, Swahili sayings were added to some kangas. At first, the sayings, aphorisms or slogans were printed in Arabic script, later in Roman letters.Many of them have the added charm of being obscure or ambiguous in their meaning. This is because women would use the kanga as a method of communication, seeing as they were oppressed of self expression within their communities.
