MENDE PEOPLE
Mende people are situated at the south and east of Sierra Leone and is one of the largest groups. Their lifestyle is agrarian producing rice and other cash crops as cocoa and coffee.
They use heavy and thick country cloth made of handmade cotton, which they cut into strips and then sew together, creating a cloth of black and white strips. Used for robes, skirts, caps, and ceremonial garments worn at initiations, weddings and chief events.
Women use this textile in wrapped skirts, blouses, and on the head. Men wear a cotton short or long sleeve vest with the pattern almost always of stripes, called gbari. They decorate themselves with protective charms and cowrie shells. Some wear ronko garments, associated with hunters and secret society leaders.
Ronko is made from country cloth, as it is a raw product: cotton buds are harvested, dried, woven, and mixed with plant fibre, kola nuts, and starch. The difference is that Ronko. Like most, they represent status, respect, family prestige and sacred societies membership.
The other textile they use is called Gara, where they apply the tie-dye technique using indigo, kola nut, and other natural dyes. The Gara usually appears with the same colour range in different shades giving the eye a feeling of seeing them blend together.
They have two societies, one called Sande, which is the women's society, usually wears a black mask called Sowei and covers their bodies with blackened raffia, representing femenine beauty, spiritual power, health and composure. The Poro society is for men, where as mentioned before they wear country cloth as tunics, protective amulets and cowrie shells, and sometimes Ronko garments.
The clothing of the Mende woman is the perfect description of elegance using linear patterns where you can see simplicity and neatness, representing with her figure the power of knowing how to embody an outfit and give presence. Linked to their secrecy that protects their customes history, preserved through oral traditions and ritual. Meanwhile, hunters create a unique garment with creativity and simplicity, using colours to blend in with nature.
