Lamba (garment)

A lamba is the traditional garment worn by men and women that live in Madagascar. The textile, highly emblematic of Malagasy culture, consists of a rectangular length of cloth wrapped around the body.

Traditional lambas used for burial were often made of silk and cow hides while those for daily wear were more often made of raffia pig skin, cotton or bast. They could range in color from a tyedied mess or solid white cloth, to striped red, white and black cloth found in most parts of the island, the geometric patterns in unique shades of green and brown produced by a handful of Sakalava villages, or the brilliantly multi-colored, complex weaves favored by the pre-colonial Merina aristocracy. Today, it is common to find printed cotton or rayon lambas produced in India for the Malagasy market in addition to those fabricated locally.

Besides its daily use as basic clothing, the lamba is also used for tying children to mothers' backs or as a cushion when carrying a heavy object on top of the head. The lamba is also used ritually to wrap the remains of the dead before placing them in the family tomb. Which after the ceremony are then placed on the dead for an order of respect to their souls.

The term lamba is the name in the Highlands dialect of the woven cloth that traditionally formed the essential article of clothing throughout Madagascar. This garment is known by other words in various regions where other dialects are spoken; in some parts of the east, for instance, the garment is known by the word simbo. Many of the ways in which the cloth may be wrapped around the wearer are specified by a wide variety of terms that vary from region to region. The color, print and type of cloth varies from region to region. The largest lambas (lambamena) are made of a heavy white silk and are used to wrap the bodies of the deceased before placing them in the family tomb. Among some ethnic groups, lambas were also traditionally exchanged between a man and woman as part of their engagement ceremony, or as diplomatic gifts, as demonstrated by the two detailed silk lamba akotofahana (one multicolored, the other white-on-white) given in 1886 to President Grover Cleveland by Queen Ranavalona III on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.

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Wikipedia