Ethiopian cloth reading

The Ethiopian cloth that was given to us was manufactured by an organization called Sabahar, an Ethiopian company that produces handwoven textiles to wear.

The cloth was a scarf made of Ethiopian silk and cotton with traditional tibeb design on the ends. Yoas Tibeb is a popular clothing company of Ethiopia, meaning ‘gift of god’ in Hebrew. The designs were probably inspired from the traditional netela cloth. The scarf does not have a fringe in the end so that both, men and women can wear it.

Silk is only 12 years old in Ethiopia. There are mere three large-scale farms producing silk in Ethiopia with some rural households that have started producing silk for the sake of diversification and an addtition to their family income.

Ethiopia produces eri silk, different from the much known mulberry silk. The difference being that eri cocoons donot have a continuous filament and have to be spun. This is much desirable for many women of Ethiopia who know how to spin a thread thanks to an ancient tradition. The eri silk worms feed on castor leaves that grow abundantly in Ethiopia. Sabahar also imports some mulberry silk from India and Uganda and mix it with the locally produced eri silk.

Cotton is grown abundantly all over the country. However, because of inadequate rainfall, the cultivation greatly depends on efficiency of irrigation. Cotton is the fifth largest agricultural product of Ethiopia.

The cloth has been dyed naturally from locally resourced materials. Though the skills of natural dyeing are becoming obsolete, Sabahar is attempting to rekindle the tradition. The light brown color of the given cloth could be a result of three different kinds of natural dyes. One is, of course, the famous Ethiopian coffee. It could also be a heartwood of a small thorny tree called Acacia called Cutch which is usually used to get different shades of brown. This tree grows in tropical regions. A very popular source of dyes is madder plant, whose roots are used to dye the reds and plant tops are used to dye beiges and browns.

Women have been spinning cotton on drop spindles for centuries now. This ability to spin very fine and consistent cotton greatly influenced how ‘marriageable’ the girl was.

I appreciate the intentions of the organization and strongly believe that something like this is much needed in our country also. We must support the local artisans and not let their art die. We must help them to make everyone realize how much these skills are worth and need to be cherished and not be manipulated by the middlemen.