Ronko

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A shirt or gown made of strips of country cloth, typically dyed a rusty reddish brown using local pigments. In the past such pigments were seen as having spiritual protective powers. The shirts were worn by hunters and others engaged in dangerous pursuits. They are still worn today by male initiates in the course of their initiation into adulthood and by Temne paramount chiefs at the culmination of their ceremonies of installation. It is said that such shirts and gowns should never be washed. In the early 1990s when President Momoh, a Limba, was Head of State, modern secular versions of the Limba shirt (hu-ronko) decorated with black stamped motifs enjoyed prestige beyond the villages of northern Sierra Leone in which they were produced.

  • S.Ottenberg, 'Decorated hu-ronko shirts from northern Sierra Leone', African Arts, 2007, 40, 4, 14-31.