Iya l’Orisa

Etu cloth

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Etu cloth weaving in-progress, still on the loom — the finished piece was ritually offered to benefit my Orisha community.
Indigo-dyed silk and commercially dyed cotton; finished size: 15″ x 30″ © 2010,2020

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Etu refers to a particular pattern used for indigo-dyed woven cloth among Ifa Orisha people of the West African Yoruba diaspora. Ifa is an indigenous, traditional spirituality of the Yoruba people of Nigeria and Benin, a system of sacred knowledge and wisdom for well-being and healing. Orisha are deities—the forces of nature whose stories are found in the verses of the Ifa oracle. This sacred tradition is also practiced throughout the African diaspora, which includes Cuba, the Caribbean, Haiti, Brazil and the U.S.
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Etu is also the Yoruba word for guinea fowl. Guineas are large birds, very fierce. They have beautiful feathers of white speckles on very dark brown or black, or white speckles on light grey-brown. The weaving pattern of etu cloth mimics the speckled patterning of the guineas through the use of light and very dark indigo warp and weft threading. Etu cloth is expensive and highly valued, and traditionally, clothing made from it was used only for important occasions like weddings, funerals, initiatory rites of passage. Garments were handed down from one generation to the next as part of a family’s heritage of identity and wealth.
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Egun Majo is Yoruba for ancestors (egun) from the village of Majo. Their story is found in an Ifa divination verse which prescribes that gifts inclluding Etu cloth be given to them to ensure good fortune and health.

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