BASOTHO BLANKETS

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TRIBAL BLANKETS

Tribal blankets are today still worn by the Basotho people living in Lesotho, situated in Southern Africa. Lesotho is the only nation South of the Sahara that illustrates the culture of an entire nation through such an individualistic item as the tribal blanket. These blankets have evolved over many years to the figured blankets seen today.

Characteristic texture

The characteristic texture of a Basotho blanket is distinctly different to that of most blankets manufactured today. While most modern blankets either have a fur-pile touch or a soft woollen finish, the traditional Basotho blanket has a flat pile and is made of 88% wool and 12% cotton.

Blanket fashions

Blanket fashions today vary from district to district and from tribe to tribe. Patterns and colors that are popular in one district would remain unsold in another. Apart from blankets under the VICTORIA label (including designs such as the Seana Marena, Spitfire and Badges of the Brave), there are other famous names such as the SANDRINGHAM, the MOHOLOBELA (the fertility blanket), The MOTLOTLEHI wedding blanket, SEROPE SA MOTSOETSE (the thigh of a woman in labor), LEKUNUTU (the secret), SEFATE, MAGICIAN and MATLAMA.

Basotho Family Life

The various blankets are still to this day closely linked with the milestones of Basotho family life. When a boy goes into retreat to prepare for his circumcision, he wears a special blanket called the MOHOLOBELA (the fertility blanket). After the ceremony he is entitled to another blanket, called the LEKHOKOLO, as proof that he has reached manhood. Next he may need the MOTLOTLEHI (wedding blanket). And lastly, he will want a SEROPE, presented to his first wife on the birth of their first child. There are also special occassions in the Basotho’s national life where blankets symbolize the particular event. For instance, on Independence Day or National Tree Planting Day, a man of substance may wear not one but three blankets, namely the Torch blanket, a Victoria and a Sandringham.

New Designs

Any new design is well advised to include a crown, an orb or Prince of Wales feathers. The Basotho also cherishes crocodiles, but no other animal is acceptable to the Basotho blanket purchaser. The mealie (maize) is a symbol of fertility, although an earlier blanket design that featured the mealie in its sheath was inexplicably unsaleable. The cabbage leaf symbolizes prosperity by giving the image of luxuriant growth.

The SANDRINGHAM blanket was originally manufactured as a coaching blanket in the days of horse-drawn carriages. Woven on carpet looms with a pile on each side, the idea being that the pile would act as a filter holding mod on the surface and allowing a slight penetration of clean water. The pile on the opposite of the warp remained dry. The name Sandringham originates from the blankets used by Queen Victoria on coach journeys to Sandringham Castle.

The MOTLOTLEHI wedding blanket displays the Wheatsheaf and Fleece, products of Lesotho and the Crocodile, the emblem of the Bakoena, the most powerful of the tribes who founded the Basotho nation.

NKWE SIBOKO (Leopard emblem) of the Batlokoa Sotho tribe – ferocious warriour tribe of the Harrismith, Free State district. Massacred by Mpangazita’s Hlubi warriors in 1818, the rallied under Chieftainess Mantatisi, who led them on a rampage of destruction through the Free State, Southern Transvaal, Lesotho and Botswana.

SEFATE SIBOKO (Tree emblem) of the Secondary Royal House of the Batlokoa tribe. Ruins of the kraals of the ‘Sefate’ and senior ‘Nkwe’ Leopard tribes exist near Harrismith, Free State. The long lost burial ground of the Botlokoa tribe was rediscovered in 1962 by Chief Mota, a descendant of the Royal House, through a legend relating to an ancient wild olive tree, over 360 years old, which still to this day thrives near the site of the kraal.

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