corncob design Aranda blanket
Kobo ke bophelo- the blanket is life.
Lesotho - a landlocked country, situated in the Maluti Mountains is home to the South Sotho people. This mountain stronghold stirs the imagination with its rugged crags, snow and harsh winters, and hunched figures on sodden ponies trotting through slanting rain. Images distinct from the rest of Southern Africa.
The Basotho blanket, their traditional wear is also unique: in colour, design and size. It is 155 x 165cm, and made to be worn. This cultural icon counters the cold with its comforting weight and warmth. The blanket underpins identity, symbolizes their history and is more than just a garment, it is a second skin.
Draped, folded and tied with panache in a variety of gender specific styles, by married men over the right shoulder and women fastened over the breast.
Part of the aesthetic, it is secured by women with a large metal safety pin, the envy of any would be punk.
Besides wearing in specific styles, the function, significance and shape of the blanket changes to accommodate a multitude of meanings, at different times through life:
Enveloping the body in a loose amorphous way during rites of passage and initiation ceremonies, folded into a square and gifted at weddings, placed over brewing beer for fermentation, or folded vertically to cover the coffin on its last journey.
As Ashraf Jamal notes “….. it is the ability of material cultures to morph themselves that matters”. Besides the above changing function, this pliancy is also conveyed by the appropriation and origin of the blanket:
After the Industrial revolution, the invention of the flying shuttle and its impact on the textile industry in the 1800s, Britain developed the blanket industry to trade with the colonies. What Ashraf Jamal would call “textiles on the move.” In advertising empire, the ”Victoria England brand “ blanket, depicting the symbols and accoutrements of power in the form of crown and mitre, was born in the Wormald & Walker factory, Yorkshire.
In 1860 Chief Moeshoeshoe acquires a Victoria blanket and one could speculate that the imagery on this snug comforter, may have sewn seeds to change the course of history….In 1867, the diplomatic Moshoeshoe approaches Queen Victoria asking for Lesotho to become a British protectorate following skirmishes with Boers migrating Northwards into the interior. Amusing proverbs from this time are Queen Victoria "spreading the blanket of protection (over the country)" and that the BaSotho people are as proverbially “… close to the Queen as lice in her blanket….” Barbara Tyrell. 1968:91
Queen Victoria
The Basotho people began to emulate King Moshoeshoe’s appropriation of the British blanket, but it was after 1.6 million cattle and countless wild antelope were decimated from rinderpest in 1895, that many began to don this new garment, instead of the hide kaross. A result of this calamity was that the loss of cattle, increased the practice of migrant labour to the mines and urbanization necessitated further blanket purchases.
Factories catering to this new opportunity, in turn appropriate tribal symbols and the crocodile motif (kwena) symbolizing King Moshshoeshoe later creeps into blanket iconography, as depicted in a drawing by Tyrell.B (1968: 91) of a "mother and child in a blanket commemorating the royal visit in 1947."
It is possible that BaSotho house murals called Litema , first documented in 1812 by J. Campbell, influence the style of later blanket designs. In turn BaSotho women source inspiration from blankets, for their wonderful house decoration.
Over time patterns are named. They develop cultural significance and justify being worn at certain events. Blanket designs change and develop, reflecting Lesotho history, current events, they commemorate births, depict botanical species, the traditional grass hat, food security and various other popular themes. Some are more highly regarded and listed in order of importance are:
SEANAMARENA - a corn cob design (as featured at the top of post)
MOTLATSI - created to honour the birth of crown prince Lerotholi in 2007.
KARETSA ‘- . Botanical aloe found in Lesotho.
MORENA and SEFATE worn as “everyday” wear.
Some older designs were the: crest, crown, heart of the king and badges of the brave. Another key design was sparked by the 2nd world war:
Crown, ammunition & propeller
Lesotho raised the funds for the R.A.F to manufacture 24 spitfires and to establish the Basotho squadron. This resulted in relevant designs in the form of a propeller radiating from the centre of the blanket, bi-wing planes featured on the corners or recently, in commemoration of the Lesotho war effort, designs with aerial views of spitfires parked in formation.
Ironically in a strange twist of fate, war impacted again on the Basotho nation when an Italian textile factory on the other side of the world was blown up in 1945, and the 3 Magni brothers, relocated to South Africa in 1951, to start the Aranda brand, sole manufacturer of Basotho blankets. The patterns developed in co-operation with the Lesotho royal family.
Designs are either figurative or geometric, sometimes both.. Geometric motifs on older designs illustrate sequences of triangles, diamonds and circles. Stylized linear shapes also contrast elements in solid blocks of colour. i.e: motifs from playing cards: hearts, spades and clubs, or shields.
The beauty of these designs is proclaimed not only through the remarkable colour combinations and gradations but also through the clarity of form, rendered with a simple black outline. The proportion of the image and the linear elements on the blanket are masterfully handled. Clearly although entrenched with the symbols of Lesotho, these designs have the hallmark of Italian chic.
Then, the entire blanket design is also shot through with 4 thin bands often in a contrasting colour. I.e.: acidic yellow on a blue blanket and turquoise stripes on a brown blanket. These stripes originated as a happy weaving flaw, but were kept as a design element as they consolidate the image, enliven the surface and agitate the sense. They also have a functional relevance: Blanket etiquette requires it worn so that these lines are orientated to a vertical direction, prescribing the blankets pattern to being viewed in the same appropriate (almost fixed) way. In a sense, one equates this to the way a painting is viewed. But wrapped in a blanket, the figure is sculpture.
Aesthetics and fashion change over time and according to retail outlets, today buyers rely on colour and overall effect more than symbolic images.
The Aranda brand is made from 90 % wool. But today in Lesotho, cheap blankets of a different weight, material and design are introduced by the Chinese.
Basotho blankets are a form of fabric art. Recently they are used as the starting point to creating fitted jackets, coats and capes in the urban areas by designers like THABO MAKETHA and CHULAAP SUWAANNAPHA. Also DAVID TLALE in the series"the intern".
Others wearing blankets in Southern Africa are the Xhosa nation, who dye white blankets in red oxide for initiation ceremonies, and the amaMFengu group who wear lightweight blankets dyed and styled into skirts. See blogpost: September 2017. ©
Bibliography:
Aranda websites:
www.clubaranda.co.za
www.aranda.co.za/catalogue
Jamal. A. June. 2017:122. Africanprint - the bling ring -articles in magazine: Artafrica.
Tyrell. B. 1968. Tribal peoples of Southern Africa.
Campbell. J. 1812
Tlale. D. 2017. television series, The intern, SABC: 3
