This means that in the natural position of the warps, the unattached warps are facing forward. Therefore, when sliding the beater between the unattached heddle warps and attached heddle warps, the unattached warps already have a tendency to move forward. This makes it far easier to keep the correct warps in the front!
The last movement is a repeat movement. It involved the hitting down of the wefts with the Okaha and turning the Okaha to form an opening for the weft to be inserted through. This time the movement was from left to right. As the wefts' direction alternates with every pass through the two warp layers, the yarn grows to eventually form a beautifully--woven cloth.
The Ebira people sustain this weaving tradition for learning and income purposes. The Ebira people weave their histories into cloth. Therefore, weaving teaches future generations about their community’s culture. From Ebira fabrics, I have learned that the cloth’s color symbolizes different meanings and that some cloths can only be worn in specific contexts. For example, women would weave itaokueta (a cloth with hand--spun cotton dyed indigo) to shroud the bodies of the deceased that are ready for burial. Other fabric named uba and opete, are traditionally worn by the Ebira people for worship and other ceremonies like masquerades and weddings. Weavers created these fabrics using locally--grown cotton that they spun into yarn.
By the late 1960s, machine--spun yarn replaced most local hand--spun cotton because it was easier and quicker to weave. This meant that weavers could produce, sell, and gain profits faster.
