ISSN 2039-2117 (online) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 5 No 20 ISSN 2039-9340 (print) MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy September 2014 Ondo in the History of Aso-Òkè Weaving in Southwestern Nigeria Ademuleya, Babasehinde Augustine. Ph. D Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria [email protected] Doi:10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p2127 Abstract The Òndó people are known for their consistent use of the old aso-òkè types, over the yea. which perhaps must have influenced the thought in some quarters that the Òndó people have a long history of the narrow strip weaving tradition. This study however reveals that the Òndó indigenes are not weavers of aso-okè, the narrow strip cloth, but good merchants and patrons of the old aso-òkè types. It also attributes the sustenance of the weaving industry that thrived in the town in the early part of the 20th century to the migrant weavers from Iseyin and Ilorin. Keywords: Aso-Òkè, Ondo, Narrow Strip Weaving, Yoruba. 1. Introduction Ondo town is located in the South-eastern part of Yorùbá Kingdom, about 64 kilometers from its location to Ile-Ife and about 45 kilometers south of Akure, the Ondo State capital. The people of the town claim to have descended from Odùduwà, the progenitor and founder of the Yorùbá race. The kingdom situated in the tropical rainforest, hence the people have always engaged in farming, an occupation that is mostly practiced by men. Farming is the mainstay of Ondo’s economy. Before the introduction of cocoa and rubber to Ondo in the early twentieth century, the people are known for production of kolanut, pàkálà (local beans), plantain, yam and some other foodstuffs common to the rainforest regions. Apart from farming and trading, there are many other special occupations, which are exclusive to certain lineages. Prominent among these are blacksmithing, and brass-smiting, popularly known as Lágbède, drumming and dancing, and hunting. There also exist some other crafts practiced by individuals within the family or the clan which are mainly to service the domestic needs of their immediate or extended families. Among such crafts is broad loom weaving tradition practiced by women. Another noticeable occupation of the Ondo people, which predates colonial rule, is trading. Some of the people are petty traders; aláròóbò, who hawk their wares within the town, and some are merchants who attend and exchange goods at major markets in other towns and villages. In addition to food commodities and other common household items, an important article of trade of the Ondo merchants is the locally woven cloth commonly called aso-òkè. It is an occupation dominated by women. This study, attempts to ascertain the level of involvement of the Ondo people in the manufacture of aso-òkè, the narrow loom cloth. The Yorùbá name for loom is òfì, hence, the cloths made on loom are called aso-òfì or aso-òkè “meaning cloths from the hinterland.” There are two types of looms; the vertical (broad) loom used mostly by women and the horizontal (narrow) loom, traditionally used by men. Although the term refers generally to products of the two (broad and narrow) looms, it is however, more closely associated with the weaves from the horizontal loom and cloths made with it. The three major Yorùbá traditional hand woven aso-òkè are: etù, àlàárì, and sányán, the last is pronounced sánmíyán in Ondo. Sanyan is usually of plain pale grayish brown color, sometimes with white longitudinal warp lines. It is traditionally made of yarn derived from spun nest of anaphe caterpillar. Àlàárì is crimson in color, originally made from a mixture of sanyan dyed in red camwood and imported alharini thread (Aronson 1992). Not all àlàárì are of pure red color, some are combined with dyed cotton of various colors and patterns. Etù is predominantly dark blue (indigo) with fine light blue at its background. It is usually made of indigo dyed cotton. The earliest ones are said to have contained a considerable proportion of sanyan silk (Lamb and Holmes, 1980). Very close to etù is petùje which is often called junior etù. It has small checks of light blue on a dark indigo background. 2127 ISSN 2039-2117 (online) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 5 No 20 ISSN 2039-9340 (print) MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy September 2014 2. Aso-Òkè in Ondo History Like in many other Yorùbá towns, it is generally believed that, cloth weaving must have been one of the craft practices in and around Ondo area for a long time but how extensively it had been practiced remains very scanty, even in Ondo local tradition. History has it that before the British intervention and “opening up” of the town in the 1870s, the Ondo people had been using aso-òkè and have had course to relate or trade with some known aso-òkè weaving centers in Yorubaland. The Ondo chroniclers: Rev. Leigh (1917), Johnson (1921), Chief Ojo, Bada of Shaki (1962), Ogunsakin (1976) and Adeyemi (1993) as well as Awogbamye (personal communication, December 15, 1999) in their efforts at reconstructing Ondo history recorded varied and conflicting accounts of Ondo’s contact with the Oyo, Ile-Ife, Ijebu and Edo people. Of all these, the contact with the Oyo seems most relevant to this paper. Ogunsakin (1976), Johnson (1921) and Awogbamiye (personal communication, December 15, 1999), corroborate each other on the contact with Oyo, though, with slight differences in details on the time and the order in which certain Oba reigned. According to Ogunsakin (1976), Púpùpú the first Òsemàwé of Ondo, whom he claimed to be an Oyo princess, was said to have sent goodwill messages to Aláàfin Eguguoju who reigned at Oyo-Igboho on her ascension of the throne as Osemawe. Ogunsakin also informed that Oba Luju, the third Osemawe visited Oyo during the reign of Alaafin Ajiboye who celebrated Bèbè festival, a triennial event at Igboho, and presented him with gifts. Luju was said to have brought back with him the style of administration and architectural form of the Alaafin’s palace as a model for rebuilding his own palace. Since the lavish use of prestigious cloths was one of the hallmarks of the Bebe festival (Johnson 1921), it is likely that Oba Luju might have used the opportunity of his visit to import varieties of aso-òkè for the royal house at Ondo. Adeyemi (1993) and Awogbamiye (personal communication, 1999) also informed of the friendship between Osemawe Leyo and Alaafin Ayibi of Oyo. According to both, the friendship was so deep to the extent that both supported each other with troops during war campaigns. According to Awogbamiye, it was this action that won for the Oba Leyo the cognomen Olóógun L’͑yó, meaning “He who has troop in Oyo” when the Alaafin sent troops to reinforce Leyo’s troops when Ondo was being attacked. The nickname was later contracted to Leyo. Olupona (1992) also reported that Osemawe Jogunde who reigned in Ondo around 1759 was a close friend of Alaafin Majeogbe. The significance of highlighting these contacts is not to support or reject some scholars’ assent to the Oyo origin of Ondo but to point out the possibilities of Oyo influence on Ondo dress culture, particularly in the use of aso-òkè. Besides the link discussed above, there are some other claims of Ondo’s extensive involvement in cloth weaving before the 20th century, Ene (1964) claimed that the indigenous silk spun from anaphe cocoons was used in time past in Ondo town ever before the coming of the Europeans. Some indigenes often refer to the large presence of trees that produce cotton and those that accommodate the anaphe - caterpillar which produce the yarns for weaving in Ondo as a possible factor (Patrick Akinbuli, personal communication, 1999). Another important factor is the existence in Ondo vocabulary, the names of these trees. Òwú èkèsé is the name for cotton spun into major yarn (in traditional times) for the manufacture of ҽtù and àlàárì. Ewùkù, on the other hand, is the name for silk spun into yarn for sanyan. Ewùkù is also the Ondo name for the caterpillar that produces the cocoon, which the Ondo relish as a delicacy and was available in their markets in the past. This linguistic evidence and other related claims must have informed Akinlami’s claim of the art of cloth weaving was an age-long industry in the town (personal communication, 1999). Ogunsakin (1976) also believed that hand-loom weaving must have been the specialty of the Ondo through the centuries. He added that the skilful fingers of women wove the varieties of the hand loomed aso-òkè for which the Ondo have earned a countrywide fame. Mama Adeduro who also informed that her aunt was a weaver in her lifetime confirmed Ogunsakin’s claim that women were weavers in Ondo (personal communication 1999)1. While these claims of Ondo’s involvement in the weaving of aso-òkè cannot be totally ignored, it is to be noted that there exists no evidence of Ondo indigenes as aso-òkè weavers, to support the claims, even in Ondo oral tradition. There are also certain aspects of the claims that are contradictory. For instance, craft practices among the Yorùbá people are organized according to guild system, they are generally a lineage or family affair from which names and praise names are derived. While there exists, even to date, names of individuals and or oríkì -ìdílé - family praise chants which reflect the lineage craft tradition such as blacksmithing – Lágbàde, brasssmithing – Lágogo-Ide etc., among the Ondo, no praise name reflects weaving tradition.