Cyber Ethiopia

Having looked, in the last few issues, at Ethiopian handicraft men and women of the past we turn now to traditional technology: The old nineteenth and early twentieth century European travellers to Ethiopia - and residents in the country - present us with many a glimpse of her old-time handicrafts. Let us today take Spinning, an activity in which many women, including even women of the aristocracy, participated. The British surgeon, Charles Johnston, describing household production in Shawa in the 1840's, provides us with one of the most detailed accounts of the classical Ethiopian mode of production. The First Operation: Cleaning The first operation, he explains, consisted in cleaning the locally grown raw cotton. "Flat stones, something larger than bricks, with a smooth upper surface," he relates, "are placed

upon the ground, the women kneeling down before them, each with an iron rod in her hands, about twelve inches long, three quarters of an inch in the middle, and tapering to the extremities. This instrument is called medamager [madamacha] and with it a small quantity of seeded tufts of cotton, being laid upon the near end of the stone, are rolled out; the seeds by the pressure being forced before the medamager until they fall over the farther extremity of the stone. By this simple, but very effectual process a large portion of the cotton is soon in a fit state to be farther cleaned from dust and other extraneous matter. "The instrument employed for this purpose is called a duggar [dagan] and is a large bow, the extremities of which are connected by a strong line of catgut. The cotton to be operated upon is placed in a clean soft hide spread upon the floor whilst a woman, kneeling, holds the bow in the left hand over the cotton, so that the string is just high enough to catch the topmost fibers, whilst with the other hand, in which she holds the smooth curved neck of a gourd-shell, she continually keeps twanging away, each vibration of the string scattering and throwing up quantities of the lighter filaments, whilst all heavier matter sinks, as if in a fluid, to the bottom. The finer portions, upon the summit of the heap, as it appears satisfactory, is taken off, and placed carefully in a large covered basket made of mat, and a fresh supply of the unclean cotton is added to the heap in the ox skin, when the twanging process goes on again for a short time longer until another interval marks the removal of more of the approved material into the aforesaid covered receptacle. An instrument, exactly the same as the duggar, is used in England by hat-makers, to clean wool and fur for hats. Dirt and Dust Thrown Away "After the cotton has been cleansed in this manner, the ox skin is removed, and the dirt and dust resulting from the operation thrown away. The beautiful white material is then taken out of the basket and piped, by portions being twined around the medamager, which being withdrawn, leaves a twisted lock. These, in numbers of six or seven, are folded together into a single knot, and laid by in a clean skin bag, until they are required for spinning into thread." The Second Operation: Spinning Itself The next process, that of spinning itself, was carried out with the aid of a spinning reel made of a small reed usually tipped with ivory or horn. Johnston describing this operation says: "the white fleecy cotton, reposing like a wreath of snow upon the bronze red skin of the hand and wrist, is gradually carried to its farthest extent one way, whilst drawing from it the long slender thread, the other hand conducts, in an opposite direction, the short thin reed tipped with a piece of ivory or horn that forms the reel, which spinning as it hangs, its effect upon the thread depends upon the slowness or quickness with which the cotton is drawn out." Elsewhere the English surgeon describes a visit to a cottage where he found mother and sister sitting upon the ground busy spinning cotton: "The right thighs of each were completely bare to the hips, for the purpose of roiling swiftly with the palm of the hand, along the smooth surface, the small light reel, which hung revolving, whilst the hand bearing aloft the light white cloud slowly diverged to arms' length, and the other as gradually drew out in the opposite direction the slender thread that was formed during the operation." Unchanging Techniques Spinning technique remained unchanged throughout the nineteenth century. The Georgian pharmacist Dr. Paul Merab, writing after World War I, tells a familiar story. He relates that in the then new city of Addis Ababa the raw cotton was purchased in the market, the seeds were then removed by means of a wooden roller or iron rod and were put aside to be subsequently crushed for their oil which was used in the cooking of injera, the pancake like bread of the Ethiopians. The residue of the cotton was then worked by hand into homogeneous flock which was subsequently carded with a classic bow. Spinning was carried out with the assistance of a spindle made of a thin rod about 20 cm. long ending with a disc held on with a wire hook. The cotton was held in the left hand while the right held the spindle which rested on the uncovered thigh and was made to rotate. The thread was then unrolled on to a straw which served as a bobbin and was later unrolled by the weaver who transferred the thread to his shuttle. Merab adds that ladies of importance, even princesses, still treated spinning as a pastime and were proud to clothe their husband, brothers or sons with cotton they had spun. Empress Taytu Empress Taytu, for example, enjoyed a considerable reputation as a spinner and was very proud of it? The Economics of It Though spinning was an essential element in the household economy it was not traditionally easy for a woman to live by this kind of work. The early nineteenth century German scientist Edouard Ruppell calculated that a hard working woman could only spin enough material in a year for twelve complete shammas which sold at about one and two-thirds of a Maria Theresa thaler (or dollar) dollars each. The cost of production i.e. the cost of raw cotton and of the blue or red material used for the border decoration, plus the wages of a weaver, worked out at about five-sixths of a dollar per cloth. The woman's net earnings would therefore amount at most to only about ten thalers a year: scarcely sufficient, he thought, for the upkeep of a family unless it possessed some land or had an additional source of income. And Dr Merab Agreed These statements hold good for later times: Merab observing that almost a century afterwards a woman engaged in normal household tasks would take three or four months to spin enough material for a shamma.