Travel Guide

Visiting the famous textile markets of Tiebele and Jaliwangu
The Kassena regional market calendar is traditionally divided into three days. That is, local village markets are held every three days in various central villages throughout the region. Markets are either the more sophisticated wooden stall affairs of Jaliwangu and Tiebele or gatherings of market sellers neatly seated on little wooden stools or reed mats laid out in sprawling aisle formation.
Either way, Kassena markets are located under towering neem trees, providing the welcome shade necessary to shop comfortably in the stifling midday heat. Shoppers browse for various local products of vegetables, shea nut oil, kola nuts, basketry and locally grown cotton woven strips sold on spools of varying lengths. ‘Pito’ sellers are also to be located on the periphery, complete with clay pot of traditionally brewed fermented millet wine, ‘pito’. Weary shoppers, poultry traders and other likely customers gather to gossip and plan for crop planting, funeral or wedding celebrations and memorial ceremonies for hunter ancestors.

Perhaps the most famous textiles of the Kassena are to be found at Jaliwangu. The traditional textiles include more finely woven cottons, as well as geometrically patterned indigo and organic green strips of cotton. These are often sewn together into large pieces of cloth worn as wrappers by Kassena women and as loose smocks with matching trousers by their men folk. The market appears in the popular Burkina film ‘Tilai’ directed by Idrissa Ouedraogo.

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