Tiv Cloth Weaving

Cotton weaving among the Tiv is long established in the Benue valley, where cotton grows well and hand spinning was widespread. Cloth was woven in narrow strips and sewn together, and the black-and-white striped type known as anger became closely tied to Tiv dress. Through the twentieth century the cloth was adopted for public and political occasions as a visible statement of Tiv identity, and it is now produced both by hand weavers and, in imitation, by machine.

Cotton is spun, dyed dark with indigo or local dyes and left undyed for the pale bands, then woven on a narrow horizontal loom. The woven strips are cut and joined so the stripes run continuously down the finished cloth, and the width and rhythm of the stripes distinguish one named type from another. Machine-printed versions of the pattern are widely sold; hand-woven cloth is heavier and its stripes are built from thread rather than printed on.

Tiv cloth is worn wrapped over the shoulder or as a wrapper for festivals, weddings, funerals and public occasions, and it appears prominently in Tiv dance and masquerade performance, including the Kwagh-hir theatre tradition. Because the pattern is so closely identified with the group, wearing it is itself a statement of belonging.

The cloth is most visible in performance at the Kwagh-hir festival, the Tiv puppet and masquerade theatre of the Benue valley.