East African garments

East African garments

Kanga (also spelled khanga), kikoy (or kikoi) and kitenge (or chitenge) are similar decorative cotton cloth garments common in Eastern Africa.

Description

They are similar to sarongs, and are often worn by women wrapped around the chest or waist, over the head as a headscarf, or as a baby sling. They are also sometimes worn by men around the waist in hot weather. To an extent, kangas and kitenges (the Swahili plural is "vitenge") serve the same role in East African apparel as the t-shirt does in modern Western garb - as an inexpensive, informal piece of clothing that can be decorated with a huge variety of colors, patterns and even political slogans.

Kitenges are similar to kangas, but are of a thicker cloth, and have an edging only on a long side. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, and Somalia are some of the African countries where kitenge is worn. In Malawi, Namibia and Zambia, kitenge is known as "Chitenge".

External links

* [http://www.artmatters.info/natdress.htm Kenya’s Quest for National attire]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2004/10/05/features_2004_10_our_man_in_zambia_14_feature.shtml Material wealth] , a BBC article about Chitenges in Zambia


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