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 (Oxalรก) & The Color White (information & videos)." Here's one quote that is included in that post:
"The 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?"
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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.
แปgbแป 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 [แปgbแป] 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.
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