Tuesday, September 21, 2021

The Meaning Of The Color White In Igbo (Nigerian) Culture (from selected online sources)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post is Part IV of an ongoing series that presents quotes from various online articles that provide information about the meanings of certain colors, designs, and objects in specific traditional African cultures.

The excerpts in this post provide some information about the meaning of the color white in Igbo (Nigerian) culture. 

Use pancocojams' internal search engine or click the "the meaning of colors in traditional African cultures" tag below to find other pancocojams posts on this subject.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

Thanks to the researchers who are quoted in this post. 
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/olodumare-and-obatala-oxala-color-white.html for a closely related 2018 pancocojams post entitled "Olodumare And Obatala (Oxalá) & The Color White (information & videos)." Here's one quote that is included in that post:
"T
he priests and devotees of the arch-divinity of Yoruba pantheon, Obatala...ahould also promote anything white and avoid black items in order to keep the ritual sanctity in connection with the worship of the divinity. ·White is a symbol of purity, holiness and peace. So, priests and devotees of Obatala should, during ritual activities, present themselves as'pure and holy.  http://www.obafemio.com/uploads/5/1/4/2/5142021/04-1_162.pdf AJT/4:l/90
"Rituals, Symbolism And Symbols In Yoruba Traditional Religious Thought" [by], Dada Adelowo

**
My interest in the meanings of colors in African cultures was reignited 
as a result of my noticing a top trending United States hashtag about Big Brother Naija 6 contestant "Whitemoney": https://twitter.com/search?q=%23VoteOnlyWhitemoney That hashtag trended #8 in the United States around 8:00 AM ET September 20, 2021).  Reading those tweets, I learned that that hashtag also trended that day in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and probably other nations.

After reading a number of tweets in that hashtag, and also after reading the articles found below, as well as some other related articles and tweets, my inferences and guess is that to a large extent the "white" in that Igbo male's nickname "Whitemoney" gets its meaning from the traditional Nigerian connotations for the color "white", particulary "purity" and the connection of that color with God and spirituality. Specifically In the case of that BBNaija 6 contestant, my guess is that the nickname "Whitemoney" has the connotation of being blessed by God with the ability and opportunities to make, receive, and keep money. 

Additions and corrections to these inferences and guesses are very welcome.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/09/what-are-nigerian-cultural-meanings-of.html for what I believe to be a closely related pancocojams post entitled "
What Are The Nigerian Cultural Meanings Of The Nickname "White Money" That Is Used By The Big Brother Naija 2021 Contestant?"

****
SELECTED EXCERPTS
These excerpts are presented in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

Excerpt #1 
From 
https://re-entanglements.net/chalk/ "Nzu, orhue, sacred chalk" [by] Paul Basu with Glory Chika-Kanu, June 17, 2020
"The areas in which Northcote Thomas worked as a Government Anthropologist in Nigeria and Sierra Leone have, of course, changed a great deal in the 105 years since the end of his last tour. During 18 months of fieldwork, retracing the itineraries of Thomas, we have, however, also been struck by the many continuities. Despite urbanisation and Christianity, cultural traditions are strong! Take chalk, for example…

Thomas’s reports and fieldnotes on the Edo- and Igbo-speaking communities that he researched between 1909 and 1913 are full of references to the use of chalk in rituals, ceremonies and customs. This chalk is known variously as ‘calabash chalk‘ and ‘kaolin‘. In Igbo it is nzu, in Edo orhue. As Thomas documented, this chalk is used in multiple ways – as an offering to the deities and ancestors, as a medicine, as a symbol of purity, of good fortune and hospitality. It is a sacred substance.

An Oviovia, a newly initiated member of the Ovia society, Iyowa, with his forehead smeared with chalk (orhue). Photographed by Northcote Thomas, October 1909. NWT 1288. MAA P.29446. [photograph caption]

Chalk is used in many ceremonies and rituals, from birth to death. For example, Thomas describes the initiation of boys into the Ovia society in Iyowa, north of Benin City. ‘The boy joins the society’, Thomas writes in an unpublished manuscript, ‘by payment of a calabash of [palm] oil, 20 yams, a calabash of palm wine, 4 kola and 5 legs of Uzo [duiker]. The yams are cooked and fufu is sacrificed to Ovia. The boy marks his face with chalk and is then called Oviovia or the son of Ovia’.

Thomas recorded a number of what he labelled ‘birth songs’ in his travels in what is now the north of Edo State. The Omolotuo Cultural Group interpreted a number of these when we visited Otuo, explaining that they would be sung when the newly born child was presented to the community. To celebrate, both the child and the community members would mark their faces with chalk or arue as it is called in the Otuo dialect. The Omolotuo Cultural Group performed such a song for us, marking their faces accordingly…

[…]

Title-taking and kingship

During our fieldwork in Okpanam, in present-day Delta State, Obi Victor Nwokobia explained that nzu is part of the paraphernalia associated with royalty, signifying blessing and purity. It is used in the coronation of a new king (obi) and to invoke ancestral blessings on his guests at the palace.

[…]

‘Chief Mgbeze’ of Okpanam, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1912 after his title-taking ceremony. He holds a pair of alo staffs and wears the eriri ukwu on his ankles, visual markers of his new status. Mgbeze is painted with chalk to symbolize purity and communion with the ancestors. We were told that this photograph was taken at the Udo shrine. (NWT 4093, MAA P.32104) [photograph caption]

Obi Nwokobia explained to us the use of nzu in the obi/eze coronation ceremonies. Prior to the conferment of the title, the initiand is rubbed with chalk all over his body. He also wears a white wrapper. The white of the chalk and cloth represents purity and sanctification. The candidate must then spend a period of 28 days in isolation. During this time, the white of the chalk connects the initiand to the ancestors. When the candidate emerges from this period of seclusion, he is considered pure and to have received ancestral validation of his coronation. The newly titled man dances and throws nzu on the people gathered as a mark of blessing on them. It is a moment that Thomas captured in his series of photographs of Mgbeze’s title-taking. These same practices are used in the coronation of an obi today.

Seeing beyond the visible

Among the hundreds of photographic portraits of individuals made by Thomas can be found many in which people have chalk smeared around one or both eyes. This could signify various things. The high female office of Omu, for example, was entitled to wear chalk around both eyes, as can be seen in Thomas’s photograph of the Omu of Okpanam (see centre photograph below)

Thomas notes that native doctors (dibia) were also entitled to wear chalk around either one or both eyes, depending on their seniority. The same was true of priests. Chalk around the eyes signifies an ability to see beyond the visible world and into the world of the spirits. Chalk is still used in this way among traditional doctors, diviners and priests, as we have often encountered during our travels in Thomas’s footsteps. They are sometimes called dibia anya nzu, meaning ‘native doctor with the eye of chalk’.

When we met Paul Okafor, chief priest of the Nge-Ndo Ngene shrine in Nibo, Anambra State, he wore chalk on his forehead and left eyelid. He explained that the mark on his forehead granted him access into the spirit world, while that on his eyelid allowed him to see into the spirit world so as to be able to solve his clients’ problems. Okafor further explained that he must wash the nzu off before going to bed, or else he would not be able to sleep, but rather continue to commune with the spirits until the next morning.

[…]

According to Nwandu, a dibia we met at Ebenebe, he uses nzu as a medium to communicate with the ancestors. He also applies nzu to part of his eyelid to be able to see the spirit world, and he demonstrated for us how he draws chalk lines on the ground when performing spiritual consultations – igba afa – for his clients.

Ọgbọ obodo and the Mkpitime cult

In the fourth part of his Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking People of Nigeria (1914), concerning the ‘laws and customs’ of the Western Igbo or Anioma people, Thomas provides an interesting account of the Nkpetime or Mkpitime cult. Mkpitime is the name of a female deity associated with a small lake close to Onitsha Olona, now Delta State, which Thomas visited in October 1912. Thomas evidently spent time with the orhene or priest of Mkpitime, a man named Mokweni, whom he also photographed. His visit coincided with the annual Iwaji (New Yam Festival).

During the festival, the orhene is said to ‘go into nzu (chalk)’. This is a period of seclusion during which no one is allowed to make a noise, quarrel or fire a gun. Three days after going ‘into nzu‘, the orhene is supposed to make offerings at Lake Mkpitime and swim in its waters. On the fourth day, the orhene comes out of seclusion, accompanied by drumming and dancing before the mmanwu (spirits manifest as masquerades). Thomas describes how a woman created figures on the earth of the dancing ground using chalk, but also charcoal, red mud and ashes. Thomas notes that this is called obwo [ọgbọ] obodo – translating as ‘circle of dance’. The motifs represent various ‘totemic’ animals and other aspects of local cosmology, including a leopard, ‘tiger cat’, pangolin, monkey, viper, cross-roads, mirror, the sun, moon and Mkpitime herself. According to Thomas, domestic animals such as goats, ducks and fowls must not step on the figures. However, they are soon obliterated by the dancing feet of the celebrants.

Chalk at shrines

Chalk is associated with many deities throughout Southern Nigeria, including Ovia, Ngene and Mkpitime, mentioned above, but also Olokun, Ake, Imoka and others. Artist-educator, Norma Rosen, has written about chalk iconography in Olokun worship, for example, and some of the designs she discusses are not dissimilar to those Thomas photographed in Onitsha Olona. In an article Rosen wrote with the art historian Joseph Nevadomsky, the scene is described in which this ‘elaborately drawn chalk iconography’ is similarly ‘obliterated by dancing feet’, sending ‘vaporous messages fly[ing] back and forth … between the other world and earth’.

[…]

A symbol of goodwill, friendship and hospitality

In some areas of Igboland, nzu is used instead of or alongside kola-nut in traditional hospitality ceremonies. The most senior man or traditional priest will draw or sprinkle lines of chalk on the ground while uttering a prayer. The number of lines drawn is often four, corresponding to the four deities or market days of the week – eke, oye, afo and nkwo. The prayer is addressed to Chukwu (the supreme God), lesser deities and the ancestors, asking for long life, wealth, peace and fairness. At the end of each prayer, those present will respond by saying Ise!”…
-snip-
This article contains additional text and also includes photographs and YouTube videos that aren't included in this excerpt. 

****
Excerpt #2
From 
http://www.ebsujmc.com/uploads/27788_1542319378.pdf

Ebonyi State University Journal of Mass Communication

ISSN: 2449-0369 Vol. 5, Issue 1, pp. 196-202, October 2018 "Fading Fortune of Colour Communication in Igboland of Nigeria" [by] Nkwuda, Jacinta Ijoema

Abstract

This study examined the fading fortune of colour communication in Igbo land focusing on three dominant colours:Nzu (white chalk), Uhie (red powder) and Odo (yellow powder). The work was anchored on Cultural imperialism theory. The survey research method was adopted. A total of 400 copies of the questionnaire were distributed at the state capitals of the five major states that make up the core states of Igboland. Findings show that majority of the respondents no longer make use of Nzu, Uhie and Odo for colour communicative purposes in the area; this has grave consequences for the Igbo culture. The study recommends public enlightenment programmes for cultural revival among people of the Igbo extraction and sensitization of the indigenous people. The traditional agents of socializations – the family, age grades, schools, churches, the governments at the various levels have got specific roles to play respectively in the cultural recovery crusade.

Key Words: Colour Communication, Fading, Igboland, cultural revival

Introduction

Before the advent of modern media of communication, colours were largely used for dissemination of important information in typical African societies. These traditional ways of communication were very effective and believable to the people because they are indigenous and not alien like the modern mass media system. However, as modernization continued to take root in the society, the use of colours for communication continued to wane among the indigenous people of Igboland of Nigeria. According to Okpala (2016), Igbo people are endowed with the use of colours to communicate. These colours portray and promote the cultures of the people. Prominent among the colours in Igboland are Nzu (white chalk), Uhie (red powder) and Odo (yellow powder). These colours havehuge traditional significance in the area, and they communicate significant messages even more eloquently than the verbal words. People make use of them to share certain symbolic traditional meanings. According to Wilson (2006) symbols could be object, person or event whose meaning or code of abstraction is generally shared among people in the community.

[...]

[page] 2

Colour Communication

In a traditional Igbo society, Nzu (white chalk), Uhie (red powder) and Odo (yellow powder) communicate beyond literal meanings to traditional purposes. Nzu is got from clay, while Uhie and Odoare products of cam wood tree usually prepared by grinding the substance into powdered form mostly by mothers in the villages. They serve ritual purposes, initiations, marriages, ornaments, etc.

Cultural Significance Nzu (white chalk)

Nzuwas used in olden days for prayers for welcoming visitors in Igboland. This act is known as ‘igo ofor ndu’. It symbolizes peace, purity and clean heart. Nzuin a traditional Igbo society is believed to have mystic ritual powers and functions as facilitators of communication between men and their gods. A diviner paints the region of his eyes with ‘nzu’ which signifies his ability to see beyond the visible. ‘Nzu’ is given as sacrificial offerings. Many shrines are piled high with cones of nzu as sacrificial offerings too. Nzu and kola nuts are most frequently used together for the success of social or ritual undertaking. Nzu is also an essential object for purification in Igboland.

Nzu also has social significance in Igboland. In many social gathering where kola nut is shared, the formalities often include the passing of a lumpor fine grains of nzu used to mark the ground and/or certain parts of the body as a means of indicating one’s serious participation. Again, pregnant and breast feeding women use it as ornaments and as a sign of spiritual and moral purity. It is rubbed on a pregnant woman’s abdomen and later on the newborn baby to celebrate the arrival.

Economically, people engage in ‘nzu’ business. Nzu is produced into lumps and sold in the market.

[…]

[page] 3
Similarly, the uhie, the red powder is got from cam wood tree. The tree grows tall and blows out into a gigantic tree with spread out branches. Its leaves are relatively small. Its body has white, ash and black. The wood of the mature one is very hard, and the wood is red as blood. The tree is found in thick forest and along river banks. It is prominent in Northern Izzi of Abakaliki of Ebonyi state, NigeriaIkebe (2018).

In a traditional Igbo society, when a young lady gets married and goes to her husband’s house and become pregnant, she adorns herself with uhie to communicate her new condition. Uhie is used as perfume when a woman delivers a baby to stop minimize odours associated with new delivery. It is used by those undergoing adult physical and ritual circumcision. Echiegu (2016), observes that adult men and woman, who have undergone physical circumcision and those undergoing ritual circumcision, rub ‘uhie’ during the healing period. Economically, some persons trade on ‘uhie’ as a business.

In the vein, odo, the yellow powder, got from yellow cam tree also has huge communication significance in Igboland. For instance, in Abakaliki area, Echiegu (2016) explains that when a youngman, with neither wife nor a child dies, his corps is dressed with an unadulterated ‘odo’ in preparation for burial. Again, just like nzu and uhie, odo has economic significance too. Some women do business in ‘odo’. They make cream out of it. It sold like hot cake during hot weather because it cools the body when robbed. Socially, it is of significance to those undergoing adult physical and ritual circumcision. Echiegu (2016), observes that adult men and woman, who have undergone physical circumcision and those undergoing ritual circumcision, also rub it during the healing period, especially on the legs. It serves as decorative cosmetics. Young girls and pregnant women wear it as makeup.

[…]

[page] 4

[…]

Table 2 shows that, out of the 384 respondents, 27.9% people make use of nzu, uhie and odo, 78.6% people rarely make use of nzu, uhie and odowhile13% people do not make use of nzu, uhie and odo again.

6.5% of the respondents have no opinion on the issue. This shows that People rarely make use of nzu, uhie and odo in Igbo land. This shows that few people now make use of nzu, uhie and odo in Igbo land while majority of the people rarely make use of them.

[…]

[Page] 5

[…]

In table 3 above, respondents agree that colour communication is fading in Igbo land due to influence of foreign culture(44.8%), non-availability of the materials(21%), new technology in communication(17%), lack of interest for the use(8.8%) and Lack of knowledge about the use(7.8%). This shows that colour communication is fading in Igbo land due to influence of foreign culture.

[…]

Findings and Recommendations

The first finding of this study indicate that only 27.9% of the respondents indicate that they still make use of nzu, uhie and Odofor colour communication while majority of them, 78.6% indicated that they rarely do. The study further found that colour communication is fading in Igbo land due to influence of foreign culture, non-availability of the materials, nzu, uhie and odo; as well as the influence of new technology in communication are some of the factors responsible for the decline in the use of colours for communication in Igboland.These findings agree with the observation of Okpala (2016), who reports in her study of traditional music in Igbo culture, that Igbo culture is fast fading in most communities as the younger generation is losing interest in traditional music. They also agree with the observation of Mmuo (2014) who indicates that the impact of foreign cultures and ideologies on the traditional Igbo culture are very profound and have made the people especially the youths to abandon their Igbo cultures, thereby threatening their survival.

[page 6]

On what should be done to revive the trend, findings indicate campaigns for cultural revival, sensitization of the people on the need to preserve and protect their culture which represents their identity, as well as synergising of traditional with modern media of communication for greater interest and effectiveness.”
-snip-
This is the end of that journal article except for references.

****
Excerpt #3
From https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2007-04-18-0704180243-story.html "Unmasking the meaning behind color in African art" by Glenn McNatt, April 18, 2007
The Baltimore Sun
"In the art of Africa, the mask is a versatile, multipurpose facade. It may signify identity and the ancestors, politics and medicine or the invisible world of the spirits. And in whatever form a mask appears, color is integral to its meaning.

Now color is the subject of the second installment of Meditations on African Art, a three-part series at the Baltimore Museum of Art that explores African art from the point of view of the people who created it.

The modestly scaled show presents about 30 traditional African masks from the museum's collection arranged in four groups: red, white, black and the tricolor that incorporates all three hues.

"In European art, color is generally understood in terms of the primary colors red, yellow and blue," says Karen Milbourne, the BMA's curator of African art. "But throughout much of Africa, the primary colors are red, white and black. They don't mean the same thing to every group, but they appear over and over again."

Among many African peoples, the color white, for example, may signify the spirit world of the ancestors, the procreative power of sperm or the nurturing quality of mother's milk, Milbourne says.

Red, by contrast, might signify the blood shed in warfare or in childbirth, while black may connote the unknown.

Still, there is no single interpretation of color among Africa's many peoples, Milbourne cautions.

"Among the Urhobo people of Nigeria, for example, red refers to the ideal feminine beauty of a nubile bride," she says. "But among Pende people in Congo Zaire, red is the color of masculinity, and for Bullom people of Sierra Leone, it's the color of blood lost in childbirth and warfare, so it has to do with the transformations of life."

The show focuses on the ways in which the qualities associated with red, white and black manifest themselves on various types of masks, one of the African art forms most familiar to Western viewers.

For example, the section devoted to the color white includes a group of three "maiden" masks used by the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria, for whom white signifies the beauty and purity of a young bride.

The section devoted to the color red, by contrast, includes three male masks used by the Pende people of Congo, while the section on the color black displays a trio of masks with distorted features created by Nigeria's Ibibo people that represent antisocial behaviors that should be avoided.

These groupings of three illustrate the diversity of styles found even among artists of the same tribe. All three of the white Igbo "maiden" masks, for example, depict the young woman's hair in elaborate coiffures, but there are also subtle variations in the facial features and ornaments of each mask.

"What we see is how one culture can take the same form and realize it in distinctive ways," says Milbourne. "For example, in the section on the color black we have three masks, with crossed eyes and twisted noses, because they're meant to be moral prohibitions. They perform to illustrate what is not acceptable behavior.

"In the first, the artist has turned the nose in one direction and the mouth in a completely different direction," Milbourne says. "Another has bared teeth and an owl on its head. Its eyes are cockeyed, so it's sort of comical, but it's still an expression of the need to handle negative forces in order to foster social good. The third mask has horns and a very crusty surface."…. 
-snip-
I added italics to highlight those sentences.

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

No comments:

Post a Comment