Part 9
From a case heard in Degama Native Court it also transpired that, among some Kalabari at least, the belief is held that the spirits of dead husbands are not altogether cut off from earthly joys but, when bound by specially ardent affection for the wives they have left behind, may on occasion return for the purpose of once more embracing the object of their desire. That such a proceeding is supposed to be not without danger to the woman thus visited will be seen from the statement of Ogoloba H. Horsfall, who summoned her brother-in-law, Charlie H. Horsfall, for accusing her of witchcraft. Complainant stated on oath:
Three months ago the defendant accused me of witchcraft. This was on the Government beach. He stated that several people had died in the house owing to my having bewitched them. My husband was defendant’s brother. He died, and since his death has appeared to me in the night time and tried to have connection with me. I had to make medicine to stop this, as otherwise I might have died.
How deeply the longing for offspring is ingrained in the hearts of these people may be gauged to a certain extent by the horror of the means to which they will sometimes resort in order to overcome sterility or increase fruitfulness. For such an end no crime is too cruel; no magic rite too dark or revolting. For example, a case was reported from the Ogoni country on unimpeachable authority but seven years ago, in which the foetus was removed from a pregnant woman in order to be shared out among, and devoured by, others who believed this to be a sure way of increasing fertility.
In a land case, which had arisen between the Okrikans and the Mbolli tribe and came before me in April 1915, it was stated by Daniel Kalio, head chief of the former, that the disputed territory had been seized by his people in punishment for the terrible crime committed by their opponents.
In the old days, he said, the river formed the boundary between our land; but our women were in the habit of crossing over to attend the markets. One day, while thus peacefully buying and selling, the ’Mbolli rose and slew seventy-two of them at one time--forty-one at one place and thirty-one at another. Their heads were struck off and borne before the Juju; while the bodies of those who had been about to bear babes were slashed open and the small, small piccans removed and carried away.
It was suggested from another source that this last outrage was promoted by the same idea as that recorded among their neighbours the Ogoni and that the Mbolli sought, by this terrible means, to procure unprecedented fruitfulness to their own women. The suggestion, however, has never been substantiated.
The story of the coming of Ale was told by an Ibo named Obi Amara. It differs from the usual southern Ikwerri Ibo idea that Chi, or Chineke, the creatrix, was the great first cause from which all mortal men have sprung. He explained seeming contradictions by saying that to Ale the bodies alone were due, into which Chi sent down souls from the Spirit Realm.
They make Ale play for this country at the feast of new yams and also give food to Ale when they want plenty yams, especially at the sowing of farms. Ale is the mother of all Ibo people. Her husband is called ’Ndiche.
Perhaps it is worth mentioning here that this was the only occasion on which any such appellation was given among the many local names for the spouse of Ale. Ndiche, or Ndichie, itself is the ordinary Ibo word for the forefathers, and the relationship here mentioned between the Earth Goddess and these beneficent shades is significant in view of the co-operation thought to exist between them, not only as regards seed corn and harvest but also fertility of the hearth. Further it may be noticed that the primary cause of the coming of Ale, as here given, was not to provide a home for the living but a resting-place for the dead. To continue:
There is a big bird in our country named Ogbughu (hornbill). Its mother died. In those days Ale was not, so that the bird could find no place to bury his mother. He went round and round and at last had to bury her on his own head. That is why he bears upon his head a mound the shape of a grave to the present day. After a while, as he flew over the water, seeking a resting-place but finding none, he saw one fine woman and one man swimming in the water. As he watched, he saw they were making something and, in a short time, the first land began to appear. When it had grown quite big, Ale cried: ‘When any man dies, let him be brought and buried here.’ Her own body she stretched over the land; she it is who made all, both the earth and the earth-folk, whom she bore from her womb. When the dead are buried they turn to earth, so that our people say: ‘We are of one body with Ale.’ The trees too she brought. Ojji tree was the first that ever grew upon earth. The second was Agbo (or Akpu, the silk cotton tree) and the third Odala. Food is still given to this tree for every child which is born to a house and, if a woman wants a piccan, she brings a fowl to the Odala tree.
When a woman wants to become a mother, she lies down to sleep for night time after prayer to Ale. She dreams that Odala brings a piccan and lays it upon her breast. At daybreak she wakes and cries: ‘Where is the piccan that was over my heart?’ Then she takes a long piece of chalk,[22] called ’Nsu by Ibos, and lays it before the Odala tree, praying: ‘Make my dream come true.’
The fourth tree which Ale brought was the Kola Ojji, the fruit of which is often set out in offering to the ghosts. At an Ale feast the women bring food and the oldest man of the town offers it up. After a man has eaten of such a feast, should he do any evil thing that day, Ale would surely kill him.
When a bad sickness comes upon a town, the old priest of Ale, who is always the head chief, beats upon the long drum to call all the people together in order to find out the cause of the trouble. Then Kola nuts are laid upon the place set apart for offerings. Each man in turn kneels down and picks up the kola with his lips, eats it and goes away. This is done until the guilty one comes. When a wizard bends down to take Ale’s kola, the Earth Spirit catches him and he is forced by her power to confess how he spread the pestilence. Before all the people he must speak out, saying: ‘I killed this man. I killed that man. That woman also I slew!’--until all his crimes are known. When everything has been told, his belly swells up and he dies. No man touches him. It is by Ale’s power alone that he is slain.
This aversion to witchcraft is characteristic not only of the Earth Mother but also of her spouse the Thunder God; for, though certain magicians can raise a tempest by their spells, it is held to be extremely dangerous for witch or wizard to practise magic rites during the time of storms. When a man is struck by lightning, it is thought that Amade Onhia slew him on account of his crimes. Such men are never buried, lest the evil within them should defile Ale. The corpses are therefore flung away into the bush of the unblest dead. Similarly among Aro and some other Ibo tribes no tree struck by lightning can be used for firewood; since food cooked upon this would be accursed and even the light and heat given out by such logs would have a sinister influence on all whom it might reach.
With these peoples the bed-rock of religious ideas has perhaps been attained in this direction; and, unless the fascination of the subject has misled one with will-o’-the-wisp-like glamour, then surely in the cult of the Earth Mother, of the Sky Father, by whose fecundative showers her fruition is brought about, of the kindly ancestors, whose spirits still watch over their descendants and aid in the sending of rich harvests--lastly, and most intimately of all, by sympathetic magic through that mysterious link thought to lie between the generative organs, both male and female, and the fruitfulness of the animal and vegetable kingdoms--the innermost workings of primitive minds may, in a measure, be reached at last.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See also figures on the ancestral tablet described on p. 121.
[2] 1904, pp. 134, 135.
[3] In the Mbari houses of the neighbourhood of Omo Akani, Owerri District, where the Juju Ogugu holds sway, monkeys also are shown in the act of procreation.
[4] A different word to Abara ‘Juju.’
[5] Our informant did not know of any link, yet it seems not without significance that the phallic pillars, raised by maidens before marriage to ensure plentiful offspring, also bear the name of Eki. See chapter vii.
[6] At the Etche town of Okudu Mba there was an Mbari house erected in honour of Ajala (Aja ground or mud), ‘a brother of Ale.’
[7] In this neighbourhood are the principal shrines of Adumu, the head and father of all the snake cults of the region. The little village of Adum-Ama is its chief centre, while at ’Ngeri-Baw-Ama it was stated that ‘only men may talk with him; for with his cult some of the most important of the male secrets are said to be connected.’
[8] The wrestling scene depicted in every Mbari house generally represents the ceremonial wrestling ‘to help the crops grow’ described on p. 112 _et seq._
[9] Cf. The Bird and Pillar Cult of old Crete.
[10] See _Life in Southern Nigeria_.
[11] No information could be obtained as to whether the priest ‘died’ at the end of the seventh year of his office, like the priest of the Aya-Eke cult at Elele, _vide_ p. 103 _et seq._
[12] The tabu among Okoba and Ale Nsaw Ibo against climbing palm trees is probably due to the same idea.
[13] _Zeus: A Study of Ancient Religion_, by A. B. Cook.
[14] Vide _In the Shadow of the Bush_, p. 14.
[15] Many of these would now be classified by me as symbols of ‘medicines’ or charms, not ‘jujus.’ Vide _The Peoples of Southern Nigeria_, vol. ii. p. 153.
[16] _In the Shadow of the Bush_, p. 76.
[17] It is perhaps worth remarking that among Mbolli all fire brick is used for the same purpose.
[18] The Ajokko-Ji, the Yam Spirit, is further described in _The Peoples of Southern Nigeria_.
[19] _Woman’s Mysteries of a Primitive People_ (Cassell), p. 81.
[20] Eke day is one of the four days of the Ibo week. It is market day at Elele. Eke is also the name of the great python. See p. 7.
[21] Mbiencha is the child of Nkike, the Mbolli Earth Goddess.
[22] This offering is of the same shape, though apparently slightly larger than the small phallic symbols found before the Juju Ezum Mezum depicted on p. 92.
INDEX
A
Abara, messenger of the Earth Goddess, represented in Mbari Houses, 16-7.
Abaw, clan of Ika sub-tribe of Ibo, 79.
Abuan, Semi-Bantu tribe, 75, 121, 123.
Adultery: Tabus, 126-7; condonation of, 127.
Ajiji, ‘play’, 93-4.
Ajokko-ji, or Njokku: Yam cult, 99 _et seq._; among Mbolli, 29.
Ala, or Ale, or Ana. _See_ Earth Goddess.
Ale Nsaw, sub-tribe of Ibo, 122-3.
Amade Onhia, or Amad’ongha. _See_ God of Lightning.
Ancestors: and Fertility, 9, 60, 113, 120; and Ale, 120 _et seq._ esp. 134; accursed, 64; shrines and phallic figures, 84; symbols, 80-1; between reincarnations, 77, 130-2.
Ant hill, and phallic cults, 90-2.
Ape, represented in Mbari Houses, 22, 24-5.
Aro, sub-tribe of Ibo; and worship of Thunder God, 46.
Art, clay figures in Mbari Houses, 15, 41.
Axe, double-headed, depicted on Ikoro drum, 4, 8.
B
Binny, Mr. J. M., former District Commissioner, 108-9.
Bird and Pillar worship, 43.
Birth: representation in Mbari Houses, 15, 24, 51; due to Jujus, 60.
Blood and Fertility, 102, 128-9.
Burial. _See_ Death.
C
Chief of town, must be priest of Ale, 12.
Child birth, tabus re, 63.
Coiffure, representations in Mbari Houses, 15, 41.
Cooking cones. _See_ Eku, 82 _et seq._
Copulation: method of, 24-5; with the dead, 132; unnatural, 33-6; tabus re, 32-3, 121 _et seq._; and cults of Earth Goddess and Thunder God, 15, 48.
Crocodile, depicted on Ikoro drum etc., 4, 7, 9.
Cult, yam, 99 _et seq._ _See_ Fertility.
D
Dance, at Elele, 116 _et seq._
Death, tabus re, 62-4.
Drum, the Great, 1 _et seq._
E
Earth. _See_ Goddess. Spousals with Sky, 61.
Egyptians, Ancient, 75; Legend re Horus, 85.
Ekkpahian, sub-tribe of, Ibo, and unnatural copulation, 34-6.
Ekoi, Semi-Bantu tribe, 65, 79.
Eku, phallic figures, 82 _et seq._
Eleche, Priest of Aya-Eke yam cult, 104 _et seq._
Elele, Ikwerri Ibo town, home of Aya-Eke Yam cult, 103.
Etche, sub-tribe of Ibo, builders of Mbari Houses, 12, 20, 23, 40 _et seq._
Ethnological Sketch by P. Amaury Talbot, v.
F
Farms, 99. _See_ Fertility.
Fertility: of farms, 50, 99 _et seq._; of farms and flocks, 36, 113; and Jujus, _see_ Ibudu, 65 _et seq._; linked with priest, 103; desire for, 133; and blood, 128-9. _See_ Ancestors, also Earth Goddess, esp. 40-1, 48, 60.
Frazer, Sir James, 85.
Fruitfulness. _See_ Fertility.
G
Genital Organs, 65-6, 70, 5-6. _See_ Phallic, Symbols.
Ghosts. _See_ Ancestors.
Girls, and initiatory ceremonies, 14, 82 _et seq._
God, of Lightning and Thunder, Amade Onhia or Amad’ongha, 52 _et seq._; and Mbari shrine, 12, 20-1, 27, 30-1, 40, 43; symbols, 47; signs of, 57; his ‘Palms’, 46; his Priest, 49, 56; and witchcraft, 57, 136.
God, Sky, 52 _et seq._, 61.
Goddess, Earth, 9, 52 _et seq._; the coming of, 135; and Mbari shrines, 12, 16, 21, 26, 30, 40; and Ancestors, 120 _et seq._; and witchcraft, 136.
H
Head-Dresses: of Obukere Society, 37-8; representation in Mbari Houses, _see_ Coiffure.
Horn of Plenty, 9.
I
Ibibio Tribe, 64-5, 85.
Ibo Tribe: v.
Ibodo, Etche Ibo town, 42, 44.
Ibudu, phallic pillars, 65 _et seq._
Ikoro Drum, 2 _et seq._
Initiatory ceremonies, feminine. _See_ Girls.
Intercourse. _See_ Copulation.
J
Jekri, sub-tribe of Yoruba, Tabus re copulation, 124.
Johnston, Sir Harry, 56.
Jujus, and Fertility of human beings, 60, 65.
K
Kalabari, sub-tribe of Ijaw, v, 56; and double Ibudu, 77-8.
L
Lightning: and trees, 58; God of, _see_ God.
M
Marriage: among Okrikans, 120; ideal, 89; betrothed girls, 82 _et seq._
Mbari Houses: Chs. 2, 3 and 4; at Omo Dim, 10 _et seq._; at Ibodo, 44; construction of, 14 _et seq._; ceremonies at, 14; in Etche country, 40 _et seq._; license depicted in, 32-3.
Mbolli, tribe: and yam cult, 29, 115; and farms, 121-2.
Medicine man, and construction of Mbari House, 21, 23.
Mgbe, and temples, 21, 23.
Moon: depicted on Ikoro drum, 4; on figures in Mbari Houses, 26 _et seq._, 31; and fertility, 28-30.
N
Njokku, figure in Mbari House, 11. _See also_ Ajokko-Ji, 99 _et seq._
O
Obogwe, Ibo town, Mbari House at, 30.
Obukere Club: 36-9; and unnatural copulation, 36.
Ohambele, Ibo town, where Ikoro drum is worshipped, 2.
Okrikans, clan of Kalabari sub-tribe of Ibo, and Death Tabus, 63.
Omo Dim, Ibo town, Mbari House at, 26 _et seq._
Opioro, Etche Ibo town, Mbari House at, 24-5.
Otaminni, River Deity, and Mbari Houses, 12, 20, 24.
P
Peoples of Southern Nigeria, by P. Amaury Talbot, v.
Pepple, Mr. B. M., 2
Phallic Cult, 65 _et seq._, 84-5. _See_ Procreation, Fertility, Symbols, Genital organs.
Pillar, Bird and Pillar worship, 43-4.
Pliny, 6.
Priest: of Earth Goddess, 12, 16, 30; of Yam cult, Fertility linked with his life, 103; of Thunder God, 49.
Procreation, represented in Mbari Houses, 15, 32.
Prostitution, religious, 127-8.
Puberty, girls’ initiatory ceremonies, 82 _et seq._
R
Rainbow, sign of Lightning God, 57
Romans, and seed-grain, 113.
S
Seed Yams, and corn, 49, 59, 113.
Sekapu Society, 39.
Sex, Male and Female combined, 89.
Sky God. _See_ God.
Slaves: of Juju, 56, 59; in Mbari Houses, 42; sanctuary in shrines, 59.
Snake: depicted on Ikoro Drum, etc., 4, 6-7; symbol of male organ, 5 _et seq._; cults, 34.
Stone, worship of, 80-1.
Symbols: 65, 79-81, 84-5, 94; on Ikoro drum, 4; of tortoise and snake, 4-9; of lightning, 47.
T
Tabus: re copulation, 25, 32-3, 121, 123-6; food, 49, 102; climbing, 58; picking leaves, etc., 58; death, 62-4; revocation of, 125.
Thunder, God of. _See_ God of Lightning.
_Times Literary Supplement_, quotation from, 4-5.
Tortoise: symbol of female generative organs, 5-9; and Folklore, 5.
Tree, sacred, 101-2, 130-1.
U
Umoyo, Etche town, 22.
Unnatural copulation, 33-6.
W
Whitehouse, Mr., former District Commissioner, 14.
Witchcraft, and Earth Goddess and Thunder God, 136.
Wobilo, Chief of Umoyo, 22-3.
Wrestling: depicted in Mbari Houses, 41; in connection with yam and corn cults, 110 _et seq._
Y
Yam Cult: 99 _et seq._; among Mbolli, 29; Aya-Eke cult, 103 _et seq._
Yellow, Mr. G. A., 11.
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