Kuranko Weaver - Sokurella

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This photo of a Kuranko weaver was taken in March 1970 in the mountain village of Sokurella in the Loma Mountains. Men did the weaving in almost all ethnic groups in Sierra Leone. It was the women who planted the cotton with the rice, harvested the cotton, then made it into cotton thread and placed it on spools. The women also did the dying. It was the men's chore to do the weaving. Most often in rural settings the dye was either Indigo (blue) or Kola (brown). Sometimes European thread was used (as the red color of the weaver's shirt demonstrates). European thread could be bought in some stores (quite remote from this village), and saved time and labor when used.