Dashikis For Children

The dashiki can trace its roots back to Yoruba language and culture. In fact, the word dashiki comes from the Yoruba word “danshiki” meaning a short sleeved work shirt typically worn by women and men in West Africa. Yoruba people of West Africa  are Moors from Sub-Saharan Africa that are now  labeled as black people which would they be Cushites, Bantus, Nilotics, or Yorubas

Tunics similar in design to the modern dashiki were uncovered in Mali burial mounds dating back to the 12th - 13th century.

In the Moorish Yoruba culture, certain colors of dashikis were made to represent different emotions and events. For example, traditionally white dashikis were worn as symbols of purity for celebrations.  Moors wore purple for the symbol or royalty or weddings. Blue is known as the color of love, peace, and harmony, sometimes blue dashikis are worn for wedding's masculine celebrations vibrating peace and harmony. Women wore long tunis in the colors of white, red, green, gold and orange. These colors are culturally important to our heritage and representation of who we are.