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Margaret Olugbemisola Areo and Adebowale Biodun Areo
Nigeria, a country in West Africa, has been described as “the most glamorous nation on earth” (Plankensteiner and Adediran 2010: 221). This glamour is reflected in the way the people dress. In further describing the Nigerian people, Dele Momodu in an interview with Plankensteiner states:
Nigeria is the most glamorous nation on earth. I don’t know of any place where people dress the way we dress … Nigerians love good things … They love to dress well … I think Nigerians are created on a different day. Nigerians are different from other Africans … When you see a Nigerian man or woman, you would know … I really don’t know the origins, but that is how God created us: to be very ambitious, very flamboyant, very colorful, very outgoing.
Of all the over 200 ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria are still the most lavishly, colorfully, and well dressed. Dressing well and being fashionable is an integral part of Yoruba culture. Representations of clothing on objects of art found in Esie, Ile-Ife, Owo, all towns located in Southwestern Nigeria, show evidence that the Yoruba race have always been well-clothed. An observer in the 1890s was quoted to have said: “The Yoruba is, by custom, a fully-clothed mortal. It is considered in the highest degree unfashionable to appear in the public streets without a complete covering of two or three ample and well-dyed cloths draped round the body in not ungraceful fold” (Eicher 1976: 32). The significance of cloth is reflected in the Yoruba saying “Aso l’edidi eniyan”—that is, cloth is the essence of man (Okediji 1991).
Nudity is an abomination among the Yoruba race. To appear nude in public is evidence of insanity, abject poverty, or lack of family cohesion. It is a symbol of being alone; and a display of nudity would reflect adversely on that person’s family. Family cohesion and connectedness is still vital among the Yoruba, an individual in this culture will typically enjoy a strong extended familial connection system comprising of his nuclear family, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, great uncles and aunts, second, third, and even fourth cousins spanning many generations, both maternally and paternally; hence there are too many people whom such a person might dishonor by going naked. Hence the saying, “A’i l’aso l’orun paka, o ti di apero fun gbogbo omo eriwo.” Literally, this means: the issue of the lesser masquerade going naked has become a point of discourse for all traditional worshippers. This metaphorically means: an injury to one is an injury to all; and a nakedness of one is the nakedness of his whole clan, both maternal and paternal, and all that are connected to him. No man is an island in Yoruba culture.
The Yoruba people celebrate life, and every achievement and progression in life or in social status is marked with celebration and many rites of passage such as naming, wedding, burial/funeral, house warming, and chieftaincy installation ceremonies. For all of these occasions, cloth and appropriate dress feature prominently. While industrially printed cotton material, African Print, Ankara or the resist-dyed cloth Adire may feature in everyday attire, Aso-Oke still remains the oldest indigenously esteemed cloth for the celebration of notable events.
There is a fine line between cloth and people of the Yoruba. Sayings such as “Eniyan bo’ni l’ara ju aso lo” (people cover you better than cloths) and a song like “Eniyan l’aso mi, bi mo ba b’oju weyin ti mo ri eni mi, eniyan l’aso mi” (people are my cloth, whenever I look around me and I see my people, I am assured that people are my cloth) attest to this fact. Each person acts as the individual fiber of the fabric that is the well-knit extended family. Each family is always bound together like a bunch of broom (osusu owo), which sweeps better and cleaner than single stems of broom (gaga owo).
Family cohesion and clothing as an integral part of everyday life of the Yoruba is expressed in a cultural tradition known as Aso-Ebi. Aso-Ebi serves the dual purpose of covering physical nakedness and also on a higher level of covering social nakedness, expressing the place of the celebrant (in any of the rites of passage) in society and in the hearts of his people. An individual’s wealth, connectedness, and affluence are therefore gauged by the guests at his event and those who bought his Aso-Ebi.
Aso-Ebi is a Yoruba term coined from two Yoruba words: Aso, meaning cloth and Ebi, meaning family. The term refers to a distinctive clothing or a common cloth worn by relatives when celebrating a notable event. Aso-Ebi, therefore, is a form of communal, kinship dress. Even if its concept originally implied a distinctive dress worn by members of a family to celebrate a social event, the practice due to cultural dynamism has metamorphosed and now includes various other levels of significance. The tradition has survived and evolved despite a succession of political, economic, and geographical changes. This transformation has led to it becoming a national phenomenon reaching far beyond the Yoruba race. Rather than declining, or becoming obsolete like many other sociocultural practices, the concept of Aso-Ebi has persisted, evolved with modernization, and has now become a national culture for Nigerians within the country and those in the diaspora.
However, despite the evolution and transmigration of Aso-Ebi cultural traditions, there is still a dearth of literature about the custom. Adopting literary materials, oral tradition, fashion journalism, celebrity reportage, photographs, and personal observation, this text traces the origin of the practice of Aso-Ebi, its dynamic evolution, and concludes that rather than choosing a single cloth item as Aso-Ebi for an occasion, color is now the most important element and deciding factor in Aso-Ebi tradition.
The origin of Aso-Ebi from an oral tradition is traceable to the Yoruba hand-woven fabric Aso-Ofi. This is probably because of the prestige accorded this cloth; and, second, because Aso-Ofi is indigenous to these people. It is the cloth highly regarded for celebrating rites of passage. It is produced locally, with all the materials for its production also sourced locally. Aso-Ofi was used in celebration. It is the tradition to commission a particular pattern of Aso-Ofi for a group of family members celebrating an event.
Archaeological finds of sculptures dating back to tenth and twelfth century AD found in Ile-Ife, a town in Southwestern Nigeria believed to be the cradle of the Yoruba race by Fagg, have representations of clothing on them, the texture of which indicates that Aso-Ofi was the likely material represented on these objects (Areo and Areo 2012b). Oral tradition in the form of proverbs and songs reinforces the prestige accorded Aso-Ofi for celebrations. For example, the following sayings/proverbs emphasize the centrality of Aso-Ofi:
“Sin mi ka re’le ana ki gbe ewu etu wo” (a person asked to escort a groom to his in-law’s house for his wedding event should not put on etu);
“sanyan l’oba aso, alaari l’oba ewu” (sanyan is the king of cloth, alaari is the king of dressing);
“A ran omo l’aso, Iseyin ni ohun aso” (we sent someone to buy woven cloth, but Iseyin weavers had none available) [Iseyin was a town renowned for the woven fabric].
Etu, Sanyan, and Alaari were the major indigenous variants of handwoven fabrics worn at ceremonies. Aso-Ofi were made to order or commissioned. No doubt in the past, most Aso-Ebi were made from handwoven narrow band cloth (Eicher 1976: 41). The few literary works available on Aso-Ebi link its origins to ancient times, while others trace its development to a post–Second World War boom. William Bascom (1969) believes that its origin is traceable to the age-grade celebrations (celebration of people in the same age bracket of two years interval), in which the celebrants use similar cloths as a mark of fraternity. This is found in Owo where attaining the leadership age grade known as ero is celebrated wearing a specially commissioned handwoven cloth known as girijo (Akinwumi 1990: 46–51, 1992: 8–3; Asakitipi 2007).
This practice in recent times is found in the usage of uniform by different age grades (regbe-regbe) during the annual Ojude-Oba celebration in Ijebu-Ode. John and Margaret Drewal (1990) also trace the origin of Aso-Ebi to the pairing found in Yoruba Gelede masquerade, a form of comradeship in which two groups decide to dress alike.
The usage of the same fabric, same style, or head-tie is used to show the status of women and their female associations known as egbe. Nwafor (2013) asserts that the tradition of Aso-Ebi is a remnant of the post–First World War boom and conspicuous consumption that has remained as a national culture until now.
Whatever may be the origin of the Aso-Ebi tradition, it is pertinent to note that it has become a significant part of Nigerian dress culture and it is featured in all ceremonies that indicate change in status or social advancement such as naming, age-grade celebration, birthdays, housewarmings, chieftaincy installations, investitures, and weddings. This practice has even been extended to political gatherings where uniform Aso-Ebi is used as propaganda cloth for political campaigns (Areo and Areo 2012a). The use of uniformed propaganda developed with the emergence of political parties in the early 1950s (Post and Jenkins 1973: 428–30; Sklar 1963: 303–304). Adegoke Adelabu was credited as the first Nigerian politician to order factory-produced political party propaganda cloth (Akinwunmi 1997: 10).
There are several reasons for the survival and sustainability of the Aso-Ebi culture; first is the fact that Nigerians have a strong associational culture and a vibrant social life. This is because “we are all connected.” There is an unbroken thread of social interaction or connectivity “because you will know somebody, who knows somebody, who knows somebody, who knows somebody” (Plankensteiner and Adediran 2010: 222).
Second, the need to belong in an environment where no “man is an island” is a fostering factor. Each individual asserts his identity and social connection through the Aso-Ebi. Third, urbanization, which has resulted in internal developments of indigenous dress culture, as well as external influences in terms of exposure to foreign fashion, via celebrity lifestyle, and fashion magazines, has also fuelled the Aso-Ebi practice.
The fourth reason according to Familusi (2010) is that a distinguishing feature of Africanness is a spirit of oneness manifesting in “we feeling,” “live and let live,” serious concern for others, and fraternity. This is born out of unavoidable interactions with other members of society. In other words, Aso-Ebi serves as a means of enhancing solidarity and reinforcing social identity among the different groups and therefore ensuring collective unity and survival.
Additionally, the importation of a variety of material of broader width, which are finer, more easily accessible and more colorful have aided the continuation of the Aso-Ebi tradition. Wearers do not have to wait endlessly for commissioned weavers to complete the fabric, and after choosing their particular fabric design and color can, within the space of a few hours, obtain the desired quantity of cloth directly from the market. Furthermore, media coverage of celebrities’ lifestyle and ceremonies has encouraged the Aso-Ebi phenomenon.
The final contributing factor is the concept of seed and harvest time or “reciprocity.” When individuals contribute to the success of another’s celebration, their names are automatically mentally registered, and more recently in black on white within the celebrants’ guestbook. Anytime the contributor has their own occasion to celebrate, all those they had supported in the past must, as a rule and as societal expectation, buy and wear their chosen Aso-Ebi. Hence the Yoruba will say, “gba mi ni igba ojo, ki n gba e ni’gba oda” (come to my aid in rainy days, so I can also support you in your time of scarcity). “Cooperation and mutual helpfulness are virtues among the Yoruba” (Dopamu and Alana 2004).
This reciprocity is even evident in a radio jingle on Osun State Radio Station where a woman, chastised for never staying at home to spend quality time with her family, retorts: “awon ore mi lo ma npe mi, mi si le se kin ma lo, nitori ojo to ba ma kan emi na” (it’s my friends who invite me, and I must not just turn down their invitations, because of when I will need them during my own celebration). It is the height of shame, an indication of bad character, or lack of cordiality with others, not to have a crowd at one’s events. The concept of “the more the merrier” reflects the evidence of your connection and status in society.
There is a connection between Aso-Ebi and the concept of uniform dressing of Yoruba age grade known as Egbejoda. Egbejoda means cloth made for collective use by a women’s and men’s group, club, or society. Egbe means society, age-grade, association, or group (Plates 3.1 and 3.2). Around the late 1950s, the term “and co.,” which is an abbreviated form of “and company” referring to celebrants and their guests, was used to describe the uniform clothing. Aso-Ebi usage evolved with burial or funeral rites where the children and close relatives of the deceased wore the same cloth in order to show their solidarity and identify them from the general crowd of participants at such events (Plate 3.3).
The introduction and importation of large yardages of different materials have also increased the access to a wide variety of cloth, which can be used as uniforms for people belonging to the same family group at Christmas and other holidays celebrated in Nigeria, such as Easter and Eid-el-Kabir. These materials also feature at weddings and other special ceremonies. Today a variety of commercial textiles ranging from factory-printed Ankara fabric to velvets, brocades, and embroidered fabric (collectively known as laces) are used together with the indigenously handwoven Aso-Ofi.
The concept of Aso-Ebi has widened beyond the cloth worn to identify the celebrant or to differentiate guests to the extent that it now includes and recognizes other types of relationships such as friends, work colleagues, religious affiliations, district and social memberships in addition to well-wishers. As a result, there is no specific limitation to the type of cloth worn at any particular ceremony. A passage from Dympna Ugwu-Oju’s essay to support Phyllis Galembo’s (1997) photographic documentation of Aso-Ebi in Benin illustrates this expansion of Aso-Ebi:
An example of a decent Aso-Ebi showing was when Patrick and Janet, both middle-level public servants were married in Lagos, Nigeria, in June, 1991. Guests counted 15 different Aso-Ebis that were worn, representing different affiliations, with the groom or bride. The immediate families of the bride and groom wore Aso-Ebis of fuchsia and green silks respectively. Patrick’s mother and each of his sisters (6 of them) brought their friends who showed their support by dressing in varied colored Aso-Ebis expressly selected by the family. Patrick’s three older sisters’ co-workers made Aso-Ebi also. So the groom’s family alone wore a total of eleven Aso-Ebis. In addition to the one worn by Janet’s family, her maternal aunts had their own distinct uniforms and so did her aunts on her father’s side. Janet’s female co-workers also wore an Aso-Ebi. This particular occasion recorded fifteen different types of Aso-Ebi.
However, in recent times, the variety of Aso-Ebi featured at any ceremony has been fine-tuned by the color stipulated by the celebrant and his nuclear family. It is not uncommon for people to ask “kolo wo ni won pe?” (What color has been specified for the occasion by the celebrant?).
In twenty-first-century Nigeria, the norm now is to specify the “color code” on the invitation cards being sent out to friends and relations for a ceremony. Thus, “color code” in the case of marriages usually comprises a set of two color combinations, one for friends and relatives of the groom and the second for those of the bride. In this way, it is easy to distinguish to which side each guest belongs. The individuality of the guest is expressed by the style in which each Aso-Ebi has been sewn.
The implication and relevance of color-coding in Aso-Ebi is that each group member associated with the celebrant can choose material of their choice and within their financial capability. Their choice of fabric must explicitly be, however, within the “color code” specified by the celebrant. Color, therefore, has become the unifying factor for the Aso-Ebis of all the different groups and relationships of guests at any event.
The usage of Aso-Ebi is seen as a temporary leveller of class, since all guests wear the same cloth, thus bridging the gap in financial status between the rich and the poor. This gap, in recent times, is widening again since a single event or ceremony may feature as many as fifteen cloths as seen in the case cited by Ugwu-Oju. What we find now is that each group is choosing an Aso-Ebi that is commensurate to its financial standing, so that the color specified by the celebrant, rather than the Aso-Ebi itself, now serves as the “common denominator,” a feature shared by all members of a group, and the social leveller. In celebration of many events, the “color code” is reflected not only in the Aso-Ebi, but also in the decoration of the event venue such as the cake, the chairs, the tablecloths, and all the other associated trappings.
There is a strong party/event culture in Nigeria and every weekend is filled with many celebrations. In many cases where the venue is too large, for instance if a football field is the venue, often, two sets of celebrants with their guests may have to share the same location with each celebrant taking a portion of the field for entertaining their guests. In such a case, the specified color code of each celebrant serves as an identifiable feature and thus plays the role of guiding or directing each guest to the celebration they are attending.
Since Aso-Ebi serves as a means of identification, each group showing their solidarity to the celebrant experiences a sense of pride. They also communicate their cohesion, as in the following song:
Egbe a wa yoo, won se b’osu lo yo
Aso ti a ro, olowo fara m’olowo
Ewu ti a wo, olowo j’ogun idera
Gele ti a we sukusuku bam-bam
Eni t’oba wu, ko be,
Egbe awa yoo, won se b’osu lo yo
(Our group emerged brilliant as a new moon
Our choice of cloth is that of the wealthy, flocking together
Our head-tie is the height of elegance
The envious will die of envy
Our group has emerged as a new moon.)
At events, there is a psychological sense of camaraderie among each group, just as “birds of a feather flocking together” so, too, do the guests of each of the celebrants sit together. This makes it very easy to identify the relationships of each group to the celebrant.
Socially, special recognition and treatment are accorded each group wearing Aso-Ebi. A popular slang reflects this: “ko wo Ankara, ko je semo,” meaning semovita (a particular Nigerian dish) will not be served to those not wearing Ankara fabric. (Ankara is the factory-printed cotton.) This, by implication, shows that buying and wearing the Aso-Ebi at events affords its wearers special dishes and privileges. At many such occasions, the type of Aso-Ebi one wears determines the quality of the party favor you will be gifted from the celebrant. Aso-Ebi makes it easier for those distributing such items to pick the deserving guests out of the crowd.
The Aso-Ebi “color code” also often serves as the invitation card or entry ticket. It is not uncommon in the Yoruba region to hear advertisers on radio stations giving the location where the uniform for an upcoming event can be purchased and its price. Aso-Ebi can now even gain its wearers admittance to musical shows or live performance. Typically, such advertisements are concluded with the statement: “ko wo Ankara, ko wo le o” (no entrance without the chosen Ankara fabric—simply put, “this cloth admits the wearer”).
Psychologically, whoever goes to an event without wearing the Aso-Ebi is likely made to feel highly conspicuous and no guest wants to be asked why he or she is not wearing the prescribed dress. Many would rather borrow money to buy Aso-Ebi, rather than appear at the event in different attire and non-conformists are perceived as being too poor to afford the cloth.
While the Aso-Ebi may consist of full garments, there are occasions when the Aso-Ebi is in the form of handwoven Aso-Oke made into gele (head-tie) and ipele (shawl) for women, and caps for men. The actual dress may now be in any other material such as lace of specified color. The desire and compulsion to belong at all costs has been a significant contributing factor in the wide scale adoption of Aso-Ebi.
Aso-Ebi means more than showing solidarity by wearing a uniform material, since it is speculated that on few occasions the practice has its own economic benefit for the celebrant who would often have added some extra money to the market selling price in order to make room for the party favors that will be given to each guest who purchases the fabric.
Many people benefit economically from the practice of Aso-Ebi. Major beneficiaries are the cloth merchants, the cloth sellers, the tailors, and the celebrants. Another group is the printers who are commissioned to print the party favors that are eventually distributed to guests.
The practice of Aso-Ebi has become so sophisticated and entrenched in Yoruba culture that as the invitation cards are being given to the intending guests, the “color code” is already printed on the card. It is also to be noted that recently, a list of the different types and categories of Aso-Ebi that are to be worn for the event and their prices are often attached to the invitation card. The friends of such celebrants were often notified of where to collect their Aso-Ebi or a general point of collection for these cloths. In some other instances, the details of the account into which the money for the cloth is to be paid is indicated in the note attached to the invitation card, and the cloth is delivered to individuals after payment has been made. It is equally the practice these days that as the intended Aso-Ebi is being delivered to those who have paid, the party favor for the event is packaged with the cloth. This shows that even before you sew the cloth or attend the event you already know and have collected your party favor prior to the actual celebration.
Similarly, journalists who specialize in celebrity coverage concentrate more on the various styles the cloth is made into, and this constitutes the major topic of their reportage and these reports serve as a form of sales catalog for tailors. Professional and amateur photographers benefit immensely at such events by taking instant photographs known as “wait and get.”
Aso-Ebi, which originated among the Yoruba as a family uniform, has been transformed into a national and international phenomenon. It has become a form of identity and a cultural practice that has been imbibed by other ethnic groups within Nigeria and beyond. The concept of Aso-Ebi is now found among the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria where it is called ashebi. It is also found among the Northern Nigerians who call it Yaye, Anko, or Aso-Ebi. Therefore, Aso-Ebi has become a national cultural phenomena, rather than a strictly Yoruba one (Ajani 2012: 116).
Through Aso-Ebi, guests at ceremonies have been able to enforce the respect of the celebrant, thus supporting the Yoruba system of according value, found in sayings such as “Iri ni si ni ise ni l’ojo” (your dress will determine the way you will be addressed or the reception that will be accorded).
For the Yoruba, it is the height of civilization and sartorial style to be elaborately and appropriately dressed for a ceremony. Through the Aso-Ebi family kinship cloth, the people express their identity, solidarity and support for each other, and maintenance of the collective societal memory.
The Aso-Ebi has become a source of wealth and a form of economic opportunity to many at different levels, namely the cloth merchants, the retailers, the tailors, the sewing notions merchants, graphic artists who emboss design on the party favors, photographers, and fashion photo journalists who chronicle these events in pictures in their journals.
By psychologically instilling a sense of compulsion and reciprocity, Aso-Ebi practice is sustained. Since culture itself is dynamic, the practice has evolved from an old cultural tradition with new forms in a modern society. An old cultural expression spanning decades has been made to fit into the modern society through modifications in its practice. Aso-Ebi, therefore, has developed to transcend the Yoruba boundaries of its origin to become a national phenomenon, which is fast spreading to other African countries and Africans in diaspora.
Though the Aso-Ebi as a concept was originally meant for family members and believed to be a social leveller, the scope of participants in its usage has widened beyond the family and now includes colleagues, church members, school mates, friends, and acquaintances. Where a single clothing item was chosen for all the family members, a present-day ceremony could feature up to fifteen or twenty types of cloth depending on the affluence, wealth, and affiliations of the celebrant. The different types at such an occasion may now range from $15 to $50. The price range depends on the financial power of the buyers. Availability of this different class and cost of Aso-Ebi has been raised to an economic commodity.
No matter how varied the types and classes of Aso-Ebi are, the introduction of a “color code” for every ceremony in recent times constitutes a new form of social levelling. Ability to dress within the specified “color code” ensures that the guest will be able to “flock” or feel at ease with guests wearing a similar color. Color, therefore, has become a means of expressing identity and solidarity in the Yoruba Aso-Ebi practice.
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