Ichi was facial ritual scarification worn by mainly men of the Igbo people. The scarification indicated that the wearer had passed through initial initiation into the highest society Nze na Ozo., thus marking the wearer as nobility. The scarification was found among men in the Awka-Nri areas and among a few women in the Awgwu and Nkanu areas. There are two styles; the Nri style worn in the Awka-Nri areas, and the Agbaja style worn in the Awgwu and Nkanu areas. In the Nri style, the carved line ran from the center of the forehead down to the chin. A second line ran across the face, from the right cheek to the left. This was repeated to obtain a pattern meant to imitate the rays of the sun. In the Agbaja style, circles and semicircular patterns are added to the initial incisions to represent the moon. These scarifications were given to the representatives of the eze Nri; the mbùríchi. The scarifications were Nris' way of honoring the sun that they worshiped and was a form of ritual purification




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Igbo man with ichi markings on his face. Hair plaited.

The way people just get up and label what is found in a minute part of Igboland as Igbo this or that is funny. Very soon they'll write "the matrilineal culture of Igbo people" when it is only practised in Northern Abia. Achebe was the only Igbo elder that tried to clarify this.

nice!