BLK 001 A’nger Tiv Fabric and Cultural Items

The Tiv people are an ethnic group found primarily in Benue state, Nigeria. They are known for their agrarian lifestyle with farming being a major occupation. Tiv people have a rich cultural heritage that is deeply intertwined with their agricultural practices, social organisation and artistic expressions. The authentic Tiv fabric is a hand-woven fabric with black and white yarns to create features that make the cloth appear like the Zebra skin, often called and linked with its cultural source as A’nger. This fabric holds a special place in the hearts and lives of the Tiv people so it is not just a form of clothing but an embodiment of the cultural identity, history and beliefs of the Tiv people. Traditionally, A’nger is normally used in the decoration of illustrious sons and daughters of Tiv and worn by Tiv elders or chiefs during Tiv traditional meetings, which is usually held in Gboko, Benue State, Nigeria – the traditional headquarters of all Tiv people as well as the permanent place for the seat of the Tor-Tiv, the highest chief who rules over Tiv land. Beyond use as a cultural identifier, the Tiv fabric is now embraced by non-Tivs, lovers of Art and African culture enthusiasts. Hand-weaving is an important cottage industry amongst the Tiv and is one of the enterprises that is passed from one generation to another. Many of those engaged in it inherited it as a family business. Over the years, master weavers have produced brilliant and popular designs that have earned Benue State as a notable centre for the fabric in the country. Though the weaving technique is slow, it is efficient for its needs and is a highly respected industry that has created a local economy for the people of Benue state, Nigeria.

The A’nger fabric pattern is generally believed to have been adopted first by the Kwande extraction before its further spread across the Tiv land and among other tribes alien to the culture but who love to be identified with the Tiv origin. The Kwande local government was widely believed to be the ancestral home of the Tiv people who engaged in cotton production, and its trade blossomed in the Benue valley of the Nigerian nation. The early Dzurgba clan of Kwande and its family members have made a successive mastery in the art of knitting the handloom outfit and celebrated the culture as the existing pattern of the people’s way of dressing. Overtime, the Dzurgba family modified and improved the method of production. In the boom days, the primary stages began from spinning harvested cotton wool into thread, which would then be laid out to dry with series of weaving stages leading to the actual knitting of the traditional fabric. Due to the drastic decline in the production of cotton by Tiv people, the threads had to be bought from Kano, by the Dzurgbas. Limited cultivation of cotton still goes on in order to produce certain special and exotic brands of the fabric which can only be achieved through traditional spinning of cotton, all the way to the finishing stages. The Dzurgba family is known and honoured for its mastery in the native cloth business, from the age of four, children in the Dzurgba lineage are introduced into the art of weaving Tiv traditional cloths and as a result are proficient before they become teenagers. There are 12 types of the Tiv Textile, identified based on their pattern and texture but the universally popular, most respected and highly valued is the A’nger which is the only one used to decorate a non-Tiv in honour of the Tiv traditional title. The Mura U Tiv is also held in high esteem because it defines the peculiarity of the people, it is also the most expensive. Others are Ivetyoo, which is worn by most highly placed women to depict their social status and is believed to be an exclusive right of the women folk. The rest are Shudeen, Gbev-Whaa, Godo, Gurugu, Chado, Deremen, Gbagir, Lishi and Tugudu which is used for burying the dead.

A’nger is the most popular and easily identified Tiv fabric which could be worn as a piece of headwear and wrapper over a white blouse for the women and the men could dress in neatly flowing wrappers neatly tied across their shoulders over a pair of trousers. Sustainable fabric fashion designers are now infusing Nigeria’s Tiv inidgenous fabric into contemporary fashion styles.Our price for the Tiv fabric varies with the type of thread-material used which could either be with wool or cotton, kindly take note when ordering. The material used during weaving determines the final texture of the fabric with the wool yarns giving a very soft but not firm texture, and the cotton yarns giving a reasonably soft and firm texture.