NDI IGBO

@ndiigbo

An attempt to keep the Igbo culture alive.

202 posts

Tiered seats under trees in an Igbo village square for public activities. Photo by Gustaf Bolinder 1930-31.

Heavy wood door from Igboland, 19th-20th century.

This entrance door, ḿgbó èzí, likely comes from the Nri-Oka (Nri-Awka) area in northern Igboland which has a strong tradition of highly elaborate carved gateways for enclosed compounds, particularly of titled men. The patterns on the doors combine the visual elements of ichi facial markings and appropriate and masculinise conventionally feminine uli designs. Their size and artistic decoration reflected the grandeur of the òbí, the central male meeting building of titled men and thus the status, wealth, and social influence of the family head. Such doors often protected shrines visited by travellers hoping to obtain success and good luck. Highly skilled professional carvers are responsible for crafting doors; those working in Awka are the best known where they are made by men of certain umunna, patrilineages, who also make wooden panels, shrine imagery, and other ritual objects. The Nigerian-Biafran war heavily disrupted Igbo arts, before the war ḿgbó èzí were much more numerous. Ḿgbó èzí can be seen in some museums around the world including the British Museum, and in use at the Igbo farmers house installation at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia. — Nancy C. Neaher (1981) “Igbo Carved Doors”; San Francisco International Airport Museum.

Ónyé ọ́chá mask, Igbo masquerade parody of a white man. G. I. Jones, 1930s.

Ónyé ọ́chá [white person] mask, Amagu Izzi, northeastern Igbo. A masker parodies a white man. With notepad and pen, the masker caricatures a ‘researcher’ fervently monitoring spectators and feverishly jotting down notes to the amusement of the people. Photo: Herbert Cole, 1982.

Igwe Nnayelugo Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, Nigeria, at his Ofala festival in 2011.

Igbo Ukwu peoples Container Leaded bronze L. 30.5 cm (12") National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria, 39.1.12

This beautiful vessel is also presumed to be from Igbo Isaiah, the regalia storehouse. The shell was at first thought to depict an African land snail, but experts have identified it as a triton shell from the sea (Shaw 1977: 29). The coast is approximately 100 miles away, and it is intriguing to wonder whether the sea was a source of trade or had a ritual association. The pointed end of the shell is decorated with four frogs being swallowed by four snake heads. The rest of the shell surface has a network of parallel lines, crosshatchings, and granulations typical of Igbo Ukwu. Scattered across this are relief sculptures of crickets and flies. These insects, along with beetles and spiders, are often depicted on the bronzes of Igbo Ukwu. Perhaps they reflected the importance of controlling such insects on the yam crop or illustrated a now-forgotten metaphor.

— William Dewey, University of Iowa

[On ‘Essaka’ in 'Eboe’ Country:] I remember we never polluted the name of the object of our adoration; on the contrary, it was always mentioned with the greatest reverence; and we were totally unacquainted with swearing, and all those terms of abuse and reproach which find their way so readily and copiously into the languages of more civilized people.

Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative (1789)

When I saw ‘more civilized people’, that’s when I knew I loved this man. Just so rude for all the right reasons.

(via ukpuru)

From the available data, therefore, the Igbo most probably originated from within Nigeria, in the region of the Niger-Benue confluence, and the northern part of Igboland was the area first settled by them when they separated from their ancestral stock. It was in that area that they evolved a distinct ‘Igbo Culture’, and from these they dispersed to occupy other areas of present-day Igboland.

Leonard suggested that the dispersal from the northern part of Igboland would appear to have started from the Nri-Awka and Orlu axis. With the help of this suggestion and an analysis of traditional claims of descent from the Awka-Orlu axis, Jones reconstructed a pattern and stages of Igbo dispersal within their present homeland. [pg. 85—86]

Godwin Chikwendu Nsude (1987), The Traditional Architecture of the Igbo of Nigeria. Thames Polytechnic School of Architecture and Landscape, Dartford.

Titled Igbo men shot by Gustaf Bolinder, 1930-31.

A Shell pipeline runs through the centre of an Ogoni village in Kenkana, Ogoniland. The Ogoni have been complaining for several years that the massive profits from oil extracted from their region bring no benefits to the local community.

— Adrian Arbib

Eze Chima, c. 1500s

Eze Chima was an Igbo citizen of Benin City in the 16th century who in one western Igbo tradition had a falling out with Oba (emperor) Esigie of Benin (1504-1550) leading to an eastward movement of a group headed by Eze Chima. Comprised of mainly Igbo migrants and some Edo people, the group moved unarmed towards western Igbo communities setting up and influencing a number of towns there. Elements of the group also passed the Niger River and established the city of Onicha (Onitsha), formally Onicha Mmili. Benin’s hostility may be linked to Queen Mother Idia, the highly influential mother of Oba Esigie, who may have seized lands leased to non-Bini, the indigenous ruling peoples of Benin City, due to general hostilities against foreigners linked to Benin’s wars with its neighbours, most notably the Idah state of the Igala at the time. The migrants from Benin were dispersed and taken in by the varying Igbo communities. Eze Chima died in old age in the town of Obio, unable to reach Onicha before his death. His descendants including those from towns he established are known as Umu Eze Chima (the children of Chima).

Interesting!

This became particularly significant in class because the lecturer pointed out that some Onitsha customs are borrowed from Benin. For example, Igbos historically are not monarchical but the "Obi of Onitsha" was borrowed from Benin.

#Oba #benin #Obi #onitsha #igbo #ndiigbo #ukpuru

The bushes of my village in the morning, Umuahia.

Thousands reblogging my village makes me happy.

That would be Umukabia in Umuahia.

olaudahvassa-blog

“This map shows the route of Equiano’s many travels throughout his long career at sea. It clearly demonstrates that he was unusually well-travelled for his time.”

He is knowledgeable about the sea. Therefore, he knows very well about the slave trade since trade was really significant back then and his career was at the sea too.

Source: “Olaudah Equiano’s Travels - a Map.“ Olaudah Equiano’s Travels - a Map. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

Too rude. 🔥

💛💛💛

Eze Chima, c. 1500s

Eze Chima was an Igbo citizen of Benin City in the 16th century who in one western Igbo tradition had a falling out with Oba (emperor) Esigie of Benin (1504-1550) leading to an eastward movement of a group headed by Eze Chima. Comprised of mainly Igbo migrants and some Edo people, the group moved unarmed towards western Igbo communities setting up and influencing a number of towns there. Elements of the group also passed the Niger River and established the city of Onicha (Onitsha), formally Onicha Mmili. Benin’s hostility may be linked to Queen Mother Idia, the highly influential mother of Oba Esigie, who may have seized lands leased to non-Bini, the indigenous ruling peoples of Benin City, due to general hostilities against foreigners linked to Benin’s wars with its neighbours, most notably the Idah state of the Igala at the time. The migrants from Benin were dispersed and taken in by the varying Igbo communities. Eze Chima died in old age in the town of Obio, unable to reach Onicha before his death. His descendants including those from towns he established are known as Umu Eze Chima (the children of Chima).

Interesting!

But really he didn't do us Igbos proud 😡😤

#igbo #jidenna #wild claims #fantastic imagination #team light skinned

Eucharia Anunobi in Glamour Girls 2 (1996). [+]

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