Friday, August 20, 2010

The African Khanga

The African Kanga is a garment usually worn around the waist. It's has been around for many centuries and it's highly exalted by most African communities. In Kenya it's the choice of the Coastal region.

It comes in range of different colors. It symbolizes different occasions and especially in Africa it shows how deeply rooted our culture is. It's used during weddings, dancing competitions or for daily duties around the house.

The African Kanga is loved very much by tourists. In the coastal region it sells a lot like hot cake as tourist prefer to wrap it around their waist as they head to the beach. The most stunning thing about it is that it has very inspiring words written at the bottom.

It's either advising or cautioning about something, though this is in local dialect - Kiswahili. Since now the world has become global its being sold all over and people are embracing it and soon it might catch up like fever forcing everybody to have one.

The African Kanga has evolved to take up very many roles. In Nigeria it's the choice of many women who use it as headgear. It's also used as a shawl for babies. It's not a big surprise to see that the Kenya National dress has borrowed so much from it.

If you have time you can tailor make one for yourself to serve as a memorabilia of Africa culture. One can also buy several of them to give out to his friends as gifts. This is very common in African communities especially women.

By : Dickson_A_Wambugu

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