COSTUME AND DECORATION IN NSUKKA TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE AS RESOURCE FOR ART EDUCATION
ABSTRACT
Traditional marriage gives different groups and individuals the opportunity to showcase their glamorous attire e.g. a cultural group like “ikorodo” and others. In Nsukka, traditional marriage is viewed as a major event over white wedding with excessive display of costume and decorations that are patterned after the colour of the day by the chief celebrants (bride and groom). The dress code complements the traditional marriage ceremony within the Nsukka cultural environment. The couple chooses the same fabric sometimes with combined heavy embroidery to grace the occasion. The bride’s body is usually adorned with beautiful jewelries and beads especially the waist area (jigida). Traditional marriages in Nsukka cultural environment entertains a lot of b.ody costume and decorations that are used to make the individual appealing to sight judgment of spectators who applaud and appreciate the outfits. Nsukka is solely known for its dependent on costumes and decorations especially at traditional marriages. Some of the costumes and decorations like decorative bead, embroidery (clothes of unique designs), hair dressing (different hair styles like weave-on) to mention but a few involved in the preparation of the different traditional marriages within the Nsukka cultural environment are exposed more to the individuals through the awareness of art education since it deals more on having a wider knowledge of the artistry or artistic items such as beads, farmers’ hat, traditional clay pots, woven baskets, twisted ropes, calabashes etc. used in traditional marriages in Nsukka. The research work is organized under five chapters. Chapter one contained the introduction, chapter two dealt with the review of related literature while chapter three focused on the methods used for data collection and analysis. Chapter four elaborated on the discussions and results of the costumes and decorations used in Nsukka traditional marriages while chapter five delved into the summary, conclusion and recommendation.