Traditional Clothing

Introduction:

The Basotho have very beautiful traditional clothing. Today I'm going to talk about traditional blankets and seshoeshoe (pronounced sah-shwey-schwey.) Seshoeshoe is a traditional fabric that can be made into dresses, ties, shirts and purses. On special occasions, it is proper to wear clothing made from seshoeshoe or other traditional garments, such as blankets. Blankets are traditional garments for the Basotho, and each blanket has a special meaning that represents someone's clan, background, job or personality. There are also special hats made of straw that Basotho wear to represent the mountains and their founding by King Moshoeshoe I. 

What tradition did I learn about?:

I learned about traditional clothing for the Basotho people. These include blankets, hats and dresses made of sheshoeshoe fabric. On special occasions such as Moshoeshoe's Day, birthdays, or even church, people often dress up in their seshoesho. However, people wear blankets any day! These blankets are traditional daily wear for Basotho people, especially when it gets cold. There are different styles in which you can tie your blanket around you, depending on your job and gender. Hats can be worn by anyone at any time. Special straw hats are shaped like mountains. 

Why does the community have this tradition?:

These traditional garments go way back in Lesotho's history.

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