I shared my love of wax prints with a third grade class today. I told them about the history and the journey of these beautiful prints; from South East Asia, to Europe, to Africa. I also shared some of the names that Ghanaians fondly gave these designs, making them truly their own.
It was interesting when I
asked the children to guess the name of the design. Some suggestions were, CD, wheel, rings of Saturn, video
game, dart board, legos. I explained that although these would be very reasonable suggestions today, people in the 19th
century interacted very closely with nature and had probably never seen many of
their suggested objects before.
I told them the fabric was
called ‘Nsubra’ or water well; named
after the ripples that water makes when a stone is dropped into it. I also
explained that the proverb reminds us of the need to be mindful of our actions,
as they have effects that can be far-reaching. The kids loved learning about wax prints and practiced studying the design motifs in fabrics to create nature inspired names.
Those were interesting examples the students gave of what they thought the name of the design was.
ReplyDeleteA truly special lesson. It reminds us of how history exposes children to what life was like in the past- "water well".
Very interesting! I bet your class enjoyed hearing about this!
ReplyDeleteI like the way you have described why the fabric was called 'Nsubra' - ripples of water.
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