Asante vs Ewe Kente
Ewe Kente vs Asante Kente
Ewe Kente and Asante Kente are two distinct yet related hand-woven textile traditions from the region spanning Ghana and Togo, differing primarily in their design motifs, social history, and naming conventions.
While both are iconic handwoven Ghanaian strip-cloths, Ewe Kente (traditionally called Kete) and Asante Kente differ significantly in their design motifs, materials, historical usage, and cultural symbolism.
- Ewe Tradition: Rooted in towns like Agotime-Kpetoe and Agbozume in the Volta Region. Ewe weaving predates the formation of the Asante Kingdom, with centuries-old records documenting elaborate Ewe cloths given as gifts to European explorers long before the 1700s.
- Asante Tradition: Traced back to the weaving hub of Bonwire in the Ashanti Region, folklore attributes the origin to two brothers who learned the craft by watching Ananse the spider weave a web.
