As we got closer to the rain season, winds picked up speed all over Nyandarua. The winds were fierce. Women of Nyandarua had a common dress code. Simple, smart and decent for any occasion. Their dresses reached below the knee, and were accessorized with a belt. Our mother’s belt had a dual purpose. Fashion statement and the most important of all, for whupping our naughty behinds at a moments notice – subject for another day. The dresses were either permanent pressed pleats (mabiriri), or had gathers at the waist giving them a lot of fabric from waist down.
The Nyandarua windy season was not kind to those women and their fashionable dresses. A gust of wind swiftly lifted the skirt part of a woman’s dress upwards, covering the back of her head, leaving her behind exposed. But thank goodness all women in those days wore petticoats (kamithi) under their dresses. A good petticoat was almost body fitting to avoid looking lumpy under the dress. A woman needed to feel the petticoat hugging her body form, but not quite snug. It had to be just right.
In those wind gust situations, the petticoat stayed put on the woman’s body while the poofy skirt part of their dresses followed the wind wherever it blew. Thank goodness for that enduring underwear that gave our mothers some shred of decency even when mother nature determined to undress them in public.
