Adire, the cultural identity of the Egba's

Right in the heart of Abeokuta is the Kemta Adire Market which is very popular in Nigeria and around the World. The market is known for its famous product Adire which has been in existence for over a hundred years. The market has the historical background of been an hereditary market which is passed on to generation from generation. The distinct nature of the Adire Market is the fact that virtually all the traders in the market are descendants of the their families who have live and passed to the grave beyond bequeathing the potion of the market that is theirs to their descendants and Austin Jacobson in this trip to the market chronicle the history of Adire, the market and how it became the identity of the Ogun people and its cultural heritage. Excerpts ----

Adire the cultural identity of the Egba’s

Nigeria is a country that consist of different tribes and culture and even before we got our independent from Great Britain, the cultural aspect of Nigeria has been carefully crafted even to the extent of been a means of identifying which tribe a Nigerian comes from.

Each and every state in Nigeria has its own culture and a form or means of identification and immediately this unique point is sighted it is very easy to know which culture or tribe a Nigeria belongs to.

Starting from the North to the South, from the West to the East all these parts of Nigeria has their cultural attires and form of dressing which makes the cultural aspect of the Nigeria Nation a unique one.

As a distinctive textile type, Adire first emerged in the city of Abeokuta, a centre for cotton production, weaving, and indigo-dyeing in the nineteenth century. The prototype was tie-dyed kijipa, a hand woven cloth dyed with indigo for use as wrappers and covering cloths. Female specialists dyed yarns and cloth and also refurbished faded clothing by re-dyeing the cloth with tie-dyed patterns.

The Egba’s are a tribe from Abeokuta, the southern part of Nigeria and they are part of the Yoruba’s but despite that they still have their own cultural inheritance which they inherited from their fore fathers and this aspect of that culture that has stand them out and also use to identify with the Egba’s and people of Ogun state in general is the creation of Adire Clothing.

According to the Iyaloja of Kemta Alhaja Somodale  Akamo, Kemta is the main Adire market which is located in Abeokuta, the nerve centre of the state,  not only is Adire the sole cultural identity of the Ogun people, it is has also made state popular both local and internationally and the market is passed on from generation to generation.

She also said the former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and former governor of the state Chief Olusegun Osoba has been of tremendous help to Abeokuta be always putting on the Adire attire in different colours making them good ambassador of the people of Ogun State

Entering into Abeokuta from the Sango axis of the state you will in a short distance get to the Kemta Adire Market which is reputed to be one of the oldest markets in the world. The market is adorned with different beautiful Adire attire that is so good to put on. Speaking with National Daily, the Iyaloja of Kemta Alhaja Somodale Akamo who is over seventy years old said that she grew up to know the Kemta Adire Market.

She said this work of Adire is an hereditary profession, it is what we inherited, we can not say how it started. Adire is a resist-dyed cloth produced and worn by the Yoruba people of south-western Nigeria in West Africa.

We the Yoruba label Adire, which means “tied and dyed,” was first applied to indigo-dyed cloth decorated with, resist patterns around the turn of the twentieth century. With the introduction of a broader color palette of imported synthetic dyes in the second half of the twentieth century, the label “Adire” was expanded to include a variety of hand-dyed textiles using wax resist batik methods to produce patterned cloth in a dazzling array of dye tints and hues.

Alhaja Akamo emphasied that Adire is like the beautiful Peacock bird which when it spreads its wings you see different beautiful colours which makes it the most beautiful bird in the word that’s how best to describe Adire. During those early days we usually make Adire for special occasion most especially for a girl that is getting married and the girl must have been a very obedient girl which is well known by the whole family. The family will have been preparing the Adire for up to three years and any girl that goes to her husbands house with the Adire then is well respected and seen as a girl well brought up girl by her parents because it is a thing of honour to get married with Adire and that tells the importance of Adire in the culture of the Yoruba’s.

Speaking further she said apart from going to your husband’s house if we want to tie and soak for sale it would take two weeks and even Kampala is also Adire. But the one we tie and soak for one month or two is the Alaro dudu but for Kampala you can tie and soak today and use tomorrow. The Adire market is a family market she said and it also hereditary, the Senegalese and other traders from the west coast come here to buy and also from all over the world.

Also speaking to National Daily on Adire is the president of the Adire Carnival Festival Chief Micheal Ogunfidodo who said that  since the beginning of the year business has not been rosy due to the poor situation of the economy and also the raw materials used in the production of the Adire are had to come by.

Basically he stated that in  Kemta “we no nothing else apart from the Adire and in other to celebrate our culture and do other things we decided to introduce the Adire Carnival and also a cultural fashion festival through which we intend to sell this clothing  to the rest of the world.

The carnival is to give thanks to God and we invite people to come and celebrate with us and we usually celebrate it during the festive season.