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During our time in Kpando, we were very privileged to be able to stay with the Queenmother in the area. We called her Mamaga. She was our hired caterer and during the ten days we stayed in Kpando, we ate best Ghanian food of the entire trip. At the end of our visit, Mamaga told us that she wanted to dress us in traditional wear.
Most people in Ghana alternate dressing in traditional wear with dressing in western style wear during the week. You’ll find plenty of woman and men wearing a T-shirt and shorts most days. However, woman usually dress conservatively, especially in Kpando. Short shorts aren’t seen as tasteful. In the bigger cities, however, like Accra, people wore westernized style of dress more frequently.
The type of traditional dressing that Mamaga wanted to do for us is normally done during puberty rites for girls. There is a rite of passage ceremony for women, preformed for them when they first start to menstruate. The ceremony could last up to seven days and many of the woman from the family will come to the girl’s house to talk to her about how to be a woman. They will teach her how to clean, cook, be a good mother and a good wife. Then to show her off to the community, the family dresses the girl in traditional wear. She will dress very elaborately, wearing African cloth and as many beads as the family can afford. After her dressing, the girl will go the market and buy only soap. This act signifies her entrance into womanhood.
While we didn’t have to endure the talk or the soap buying procedure, we did get to dress up and take pictures. There were four girls in my class and Mamaga said she would dress us one at a time. After my classmates Patrice and Ally were dressed in bright reds, blues and greens, it was my turn.
I wasn’t allowed to put anything on myself. Mamaga dressed me in a blue cloth which I wrapped around me like a towel. In order to hold up the cloth, she tied a string around the top of the cloth after I wrapped it around me. The cloth was hot and I could feel myself beginning to sweat. I could hardly walk in it because it felt so heavy and stiff wrapped around me. Then there was the worry about my towel wrapping coming undone but I held ensemble together long enough to get through a few pictures. I was given a belt and royal flip-flops. She tied a silk scarf around my head and put three strands of beads around my neck. I was given two bracelets and an anklet. After the beads, she put a white powder on my face and shoulders. She pulled out a tube of red lipstick, painted my lips and I was ready to go to town to buy soap.
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