Volume 8 • Issue 4 • 1000372 J Textile Sci Eng, an open access journal ISSN: 2165-8064 Research Article Open Access Agaasa et al., J Textile Sci Eng 2018, 8:4 DOI: 10.4172/2165-8064.1000372 Research Article Open Access Journal of Textile Science & Engineering J o u r n a l o f T e x t i l e Sc i e n c e & E n g i n e e r i n g ISSN: 2165-8064 Keywords: Feok; Festival; Materials; Sources; Cultural preservation; Tradition clothing Introduction Te study of the cultural evolution of the feok festival of the Builsa people is of signifcance for heritage preservation and protection. In many civilizations around the world, costumes have been employed in varied cultural activities undertaken by inhabitants of diverse social groupings. One of its functions is to refect the alteration of the work days and the days of leisure. Costumes difer morphologically as far as the quality and decoration is concerned. Costume for everyday usage is very practical in its colours, design and type of material used in its composition. For instance, festive garments are traditionally rich in colours and ornamentation, and are widely used in formal dancing and at festivals [1]. Dresses codes are symbolic visual pointers to a societal culture [2]. For example, the kente attire and smocks are specifc apparel types representing cultures from the southern and northern parts of Ghana respectfully with unique identity. Te smock is made of hand loomed strips of cotton fabric (kente) as in Plate 2 that are three to four inches in width. Te strips are sewn together by hand or machine, giving it a plaid appearance. Most smocks have embroidery designs on the neckline to enhance its lustrous appeal. Also, the stock is named based on the location. For example, in the Northern region of Ghana, it is traditionally called fugu or batakari, whiles the Grunsis and Kusasis, both in the Upper East region, called it dansika and futik respectively. Tese garments are greatly used during festive occasions. Te feok festival is one of such festivals that use colourful costumes including the smock. During the festival, the dancers wear impressive costumes of heavy russet smocks, studded with talismans over large pantaloons as shown in plate 4 [3]. In addition, each dancer wears animal skins around the waist and carries bows and arrows as props. Other costumes include the notched futes, metal bells, waist belts, horn-mounted hats and long cylindrical drums held with ropes over the lef shoulder and played with a single stick held in the right hand to provide music for the dance [4]. Te production of the above costume components are largely undertaken by aged artisans. It appears many young people are not very much interested in this artistic area due to modernity. Considering the fact that unused knowledge always fade away, unless information concerning the relevant materials used in crafing the feok costume is properly documented, this important knowledge could be lost to posterity. Te ultimate aim of the researchers is document the material compositions of the feok festival costumes and establishes how these materials are sourced. Te research questions that guided the study therefore were; which materials are used in crafing Abstract The composition of the feok festival costumes was studied using descriptive survey. Seventy respondents were purposively sampled for the study, and data was collected using questionnaires and interview guides. The raw data was analysed using SPSS data analysis software, version 16.0; and the results presented using frequency counts and percentages. Findings from the study revealed that the smocks were made from hand-woven cotton fabric and studded with talismans made from skins of cats, tigers and lions, and enclosed with herbs. The study further showed that the pantaloons were also crafted using hand-woven cotton fabric. The hats were fashioned using grass, calabash, talismans and horns. The waist belts and bangles were made from skins of animals and enclosed with herbs. Material Composition and Sources of the Feok Festival Costume Agaasa L*, Duut GN, Kokonu PHK and Adongo G Bolgatanga Polytechnic Industrial Art, P. O. Box 767, Bolgatanga-Upper East Region, Ghana *Corresponding author: Agaasa L, Bolgatanga Polytechnic Industrial Art, Sumburungu-Bolgatanga, UB0964, Ghana, Tel: +233243503337; E-mail: issaaz79@gmail.com Received August 06, 2018; Accepted August 18, 2018; Published August 27, 2018 Citation: Agaasa L, Duut GN, Kokonu PHK, Adongo G (2018) Material Composition and Sources of the Feok Festival Costume. J Textile Sci Eng 8: 372. doi: 10.4172/2165-8064.1000372 Copyright: © 2018 Agaasa L, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. the various components of the feok festival costume, and how are these material(s) sourced? Te results of this study, the researcher believe will explicitly prevent the extinction of knowledge relating the materials used in producing the costume. Te feok-unique festival of the bulsa’s In retrospect, the people of Builsa, in the Upper East Region of Ghana, annually hold feok festival to remind the youth the resilience and courage their ancestors took against the slave raiders; Babatu and Samuri and others, from southern Gold Coast who undertook the trade in humans. Without sophistication, the people were able to apply just simple bow and arrows, and spears laden with crocodile bile, fought and repelled the advancing slave raiders. Tis historical feat is marked annually on the 23 December, and it is held with pageantry. Te Festival comes closer to the Christmas season that brings together Bulsa's all over the world to meet in Sandema, the district capital of the Builsa people for the cerebration. Te regalia and its production Te most conspicuous aspect of the costume for the festival is the war regalia-smocks. Te smock is woven in the normal weaving process following the processes or steps as in Figure 1. Te fabric weaving process starts with the shedding stage. Tis consists of separating the warp yarns into two layers by lifing and lowering the shafs to form a tunnel known as the ‘shed ‘as in (a). In, the next stage, known as the picking or flling constitute a process of passing the wef yarn across the warp threads through the shed as in (b). Following the flling process is the beating-up stage. Tis includes pushing the newly inserted wef yarn back into the fell using the reed as in (c). Te full sequence is repeated through insertion and interlacing of the wef yarn length with the warp yarns. Te fnal fabric looks like the