Arts and Crafts in Cape Verde
Why is culture important to society and to life in general? Perhaps because it fulfils that special role of establishing and reinforcing bonds of union between the groups who make up humanity. Historically, artistic and cultural activity in Cabo Verde was and still is always conducted with some pratical, useful end in view.The etruscan vase, for example was originally used for holding olive oil, the pano(woven cloth), colcha(quilt), or the pote(water jug) all had a pratical use. This is true both in the archipelago and of the people living on the west coast of Africa, where narrow lenghts of woven cloth called panos served as the currency until the end of the 19th century. Cabo Verde was represented in the exibition of London during 1862 with some examples of weaving.
Today there are two areas of handicraft in Cabo Verde, serving two different purposes. The ornamental and the pratical.One area is concerned with establishing contact with the public. These decorative arts and craft include the making of atractive objects in turtleshell, clay dolls, as well as various objects made from bulls horn and coconut shell. Some of the pratical obejects still produced in every village, city or town in Cabo Verde are the elegant straw hats, balaio(baskets made from straw), lamps and rope made from coconut palm trees. Other pratical objects still done today is ceramic.
Potery in Cabo Verde began with the coloniztion of the Islands when men andwomen from west Africa introduced the methods still used today. Potery is done when women/men old or young shape the clay. Then it is fired in open kilns, a large hole in the ground that is sometimes accompanied with rituals. The pieces to be fired are placed together with fuel, wich usually consist of straw, leaves, twigs, or animal manure.
Today, as with any technological advance, a lot of the old way of doing things are disapearing, but articles of cloth, or ceramic arts can still be found in the local communities. Most of the arts and craft is now being marketed towards tourists and foreigners.
