Greetings to you from here, I welcome you to the rich culture of akwa ibom, its no longer news that akwa ibom have got one of the best, i mean the best cultural attire in Africa, This is really mind blowing and am glad to take a journey with you.
akwa ibom is one of the Niger delta state in Nigeria, we are so blessed amazing and beautiful traditional outfits but i will be journeying with you on one of rich cultural occasion Our Traditional Marriage
Akwa Ibom is a state inhabited by many ethnic groups, you have the Annang, Eket, Ibibio, Oron, Obolo and also the Efik people. though all these are all different ethnicities, but they all possesses very similar ideas when it comes to traditional attires.
You can see how our maidens look in their traditional attires, this is looking incredibly gorgeous and an sure some of us here may not have seen anything close to this before, every bit of the outfit is amazingly important.
This very attire consists of a knee-length skirt that is wrapped around the waist, as well a short beaded blouse that is only design to cover the top half of her torso, you can see the fluffy accessories around the arms and legs, they are known and called Ekpa ku kwa.
You can also see the amazing and impressive hairstyle, which often made of an updo at the top and flowing or braided long hair at the back and decorated with plenty of brass combs and hairpins, she is dressed as a queen on a big day in addition they also carry along a golden staff, adorned with ruffled fabrics.
the choice of what color to wear is hers but whatever the color is, she will look incredible in the Akwa Ibom traditional attire.
Our Traditional Marriage Attire
For a tipical Akwa Ibom bride, the outfit would be the blouse and double wrapper, with a headpiece that is designly tied into amazing shapes and forms and sizes. but there more that a typical akwa ibom bride outfit than just the one i mentioned. there are many ways of which an akwa ibom bride will express her cultural beauty and splendour, it could be as the previous one i showed which we also call and know it as "Mkpin", a short wrapper skirt with a half top, which may go with with a beaded cape, and a hairstyle arranged with a native knots, beads and other costumes.
The other female attires is called "Onyonyo" [Gown]
The onyonyo dress comes in two forms the flay Onyonyo and the Straight fitted onyonyo, with gele, you will see them in beautiful display, your choice of color is as you like, am sure you certainly find your color, suitable for your occasion in case you want to borrow our attires. Read more it is a long, graceful gown that is mostly beaded, this is only for ladies its speaks of royalty and intelligent, it is also for any one celebrating a loud event, you know what i mean by loud event.
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The men's attire
The mens attire is a combination of white shirt and a big wrpper (Usobo) and you will have an Okpomkpomon worn on the white shirte. in some casese there is an option of a corresponding coral bead instead of the Okpomkpomon.
The Usobo wrpper is made of George material and is tied to lie just below the knee as you can see in the pictures.
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like i said earlier akwa ibom is a multiethnic group, the different ethnic groups, have their own way of tying the usobo, some do it to the left and some do it to the right, so when you see the way the dress, you will know the set he represents.
The top hat:
The top hat is also usually choose to be worn on some official traditional events. some will wear beautiful beaded native caps, while also will choose bowler hats or colourful caps that are usually associated with other tribes in Nigeria and also with a staff. more information
I do hope you have had a pretty good time as we journey through the akwa ibom beautiful heritage. @emylight sharing akwa ibom rich cultural heritage to the world. take your time, enjoy yourself more is on the way.