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What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks - Culture (11) - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Culture / What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks (64074 Views)

Poll: Will you give your children tribal marks?

Yes: 10% (15 votes)
No: 89% (128 votes)
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Photos: Are Tribal Marks Attractive Or Repulsive? / Culture Or Cruelty? Do We Still Need Tribal Marks?(pics) / Real Authentic Yoruba Tribal Mark (2) (3) (4)

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Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Freewilly(f): 2:53am On Jul 02, 2007
Somebody is really taking this thread personal grin grin. Is there a doctor in the house.
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by ThiefOfHearts(f): 2:59am On Jul 02, 2007
I hope they aren't taking it as personal as you guys took the osu thread?  cheesy
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Nobody: 3:54am On Jul 02, 2007
na wa. . . my Longman's Dictionary of Insulting Words is growing ever so steadily. Keep it going peeps.  grin
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by spoilt(f): 3:58am On Jul 02, 2007
Freewilly:

Somebody is really taking this thread personal grin grin. Is there a doctor in the house.
a doctor does need to come here. temperatures are climbing.
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by MP007(m): 5:24am On Jul 02, 2007
if u really want to knwo.ask ur papa
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by ghettochyk(f): 5:52am On Jul 02, 2007
posted by the self and world proclaimed thief
Typical instigator, that  short yellow bus riding ghettorat. o ma se o 

Lol @ "who reads about their culture",  If you werent alive during the time certain things took place, how the hell do you expect to know/learn? Is it not from those who've lived/researched it? Oponu. Gosh the ignorance in this thread is over bearing 

Again why do you people believe in a so called Jesus when all you have is a BOOK? Please answer that one for me.

How can people be so daft? Some Igbo people came together to write about certain things that happened in their history yet you are still telling us that these people are wrong because YOU/some random relative werent there? Were you there for Jesus cruxificion? How do you know it even took place? By a book known as The Bible or no?
First you say that , "no they wouldnt write such things", you were put to shame when examples were shown and now they are twisting their tongues in saying some other crap. Lmao Irony 

Gosh this thread is embarrassing, now I see why everyone else has jumped ship. No point in teaching me the mentally disabled, especially ones who take pride in it.

lmao!!! i don't blame you. YOU of all people should know a lot about short buses since you and your entirely family had to ride it from k-12. the thing that's making you mad is the fact that your mother or whoever took care of you your zoo keeper was/is decided to vandalize your already fxcked up face with a machete. ANYWAYS!! your abominable face is not the issue here. the issue's been settled. stop taking your anger out on Igbo people and deal with the baseball scores kept on your face. evidently, your pea-sized brain is incapable of conprehending what everyone else AND your stinking public toilet mouth is uttering. stay in school and stop displaying your insignificant mental capacity online. the LIVE embarrassment that you put yourself through should be enough. don't forget your "behaviorial meds", your "wild animal" side is acting out again wink
In person, I hardly get into discussions with people of your "lesser-advanced" mental capacity level and I refuse to do so online either. so if you're looking for someone to go back and forth with, you've found the wrong person. SORRY.

naahh, i'mma take that back cool
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Freewilly(f): 6:25am On Jul 02, 2007
ghettochyk:

lmao!!! i don't blame you. YOU of all people should know a lot about short buses since you and your entirely family had to ride it from k-12. the thing that's making you mad is the fact that your mother or whoever took care of you your zoo keeper was/is decided to vandalize your already fxcked up face with a machete. ANYWAYS!! your abominable face is not the issue here. the issue's been settled. stop taking your anger out on Igbo people and deal with the baseball scores kept on your face. evidently, your pea-sized brain is incapable of conprehending what everyone else AND your stinking public toilet mouth is uttering. stay in school and stop displaying your insignificant mental capacity online. the LIVE embarrassment that you put yourself through should be enough. don't forget your "behaviorial meds", your "wild animal" side is acting out again wink
In person, I hardly get into discussions with people of your "lesser-advanced" mental capacity level and I refuse to do so online either. so if you're looking for someone to go back and forth with, you've found the wrong person. SORRY.

naahh, i'mma take that back cool





Now I see why the girl with the fxcked up face is taking this thread so personal sad sad poor thing I can only imagine what she went through growing up. cry
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by ThiefOfHearts(f): 2:53pm On Jul 02, 2007
Oh she actually thought I'd read that garbage.

o ma se o  undecided
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by TerraCotta(m): 3:28pm On Jul 02, 2007
I knew if I left this simple discussion alone for the weekend, I'd come back to a thread full of crap. undecided Eyin Naijas, sha.

On to the comments. The only one I could really make sense of was this one--

my sister.I weak o.
How can there be naming ceremony in Igboland and Igbos don't know it,

Ah--stop there, babyO. Several Igbo academics have been quoted already in this thread. They know all about Igbo naming ceremonies. You don't. If you believe they're wrong, go and confront them. Or better yet, publish your own scholarly article on the issue. What you can't do is expect anyone to trust your limited knowledge or that of your relatives, who I'm sure are very pleasant people, but none of whom seem to be experts on Igbo culture.

worst of all,they read it on the internet from a yoruba man and woman.

Is that what's 'paining' you about the whole issue? You go threaten to commit suicide if I tell you that the first book in Igbo was written by Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, a Yoruba cleric? cheesy Knowledge has no colour or ethnicity, 'baby'.

guess all the Igbos who have this same views with us all lived in a cocoon,a book has revealed this,lol

No--it just means that they don't know what an 'igu afa' is. No crime in that---I learn new things about my culture all the time. What's silly is expecting my cousin or my aunt or my internet chat buddies to corroborate every new thing I find out about. By your standard, I'd be claiming Yorubas no longer make facial marks since none of my immediate relatives have them. I'd expect more logical reasoning from adults, but I don't want to disappoint myself so I'll keep the standards low here. Please keep us posted on your ongoing research though---just try and keep it in the appropriate thread. wink

Alright--this thread is not about naming ceremonies, folks. Those who are wilfully ignorant of their own cultures can stay that way in peace--whatever you believe about igu afa (which, by the way, is translated as 'naming' ceremony in my copy of "Igbo-English Dictionary : A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Igbo Language" by Professor Michael Echuero, sitting on my shelf at home cheesy ) is not the point of this discussion. There's a whole thread about Igbo names and their meanings somewhere in this forum, so direct your questions or comments there and I'll be happy to answer if I can.

Back to topic: as I posted earlier, a smart young medical student named Olubimpe Ayeni at the University of Ottawa posted some of the images from Rev. Samuel Johnson's 'History of the Yoruba' in her essay about cicatrization in Africa. Here's the link again for those who missed it in the middle of all the nonsensical chatter earlier: http://www.med.uottawa.ca/medweb/hetenyi/ayeni.htm (ghetto folks are exempted from reading about culture, if it's too taxing for them).

I'm attaching the image to the thread too. What's most interesting is that Ife people (considered the heartland of Yoruba culture) do not make facial marks traditionally (see image). The other option pictured as 'Ife marks' are actually the same as the Oyo marks and were likely brought there by the Modakeke migrants from Oyo that settled in Ife in the 19th century. Oyo marks are also the most recognizable, i.e. the black-and-white photo earlier in this thread of the old Western Region premier and Nigerian minister for health, Samuel Akintola.

Donzman still hasn't told me how he's planning to pay, by the way. My people are known as 'osomaalo'--we always collect on our debts, o. grin

Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by laudate: 3:44pm On Jul 02, 2007
@ThiefofHearts,

Girl. . . .you have made your point clearly & succintly. Let those who have ears to hear. . .hear! And may those who have eyes to see, have the wisdom to discern the truth.

Everyone knows that naming ceremonies in Yoruba land, can be as large and as flamboyant, as the organisers want it to be or as small and informal, as possible. It all depends on the family involved, and the community, in which they live, as well as the size of their pockets. Not all naming ceremonies are large, noisy, road-blocking events. I often see these kind of loud parties in Lagos. In other parts of Yoruba land, especially in the rural areas, it is a small, intimate affair with only very close relatives involved. It takes place within the family compound, or in the house of the newborn's paternal grand-father, in most cases. An outsider may not know that there is anything, going on. So those trying to equate a naming ceremony, with a large flamboyant gathering have missed the point.  undecided

@TerraCotta,

Even if the truth came & smacked some folks in the face, they wouldn't recognise it.

My friend, you have done your best trying to share as much facts and info. as you can, on this issue. Its' best to close the case.  sad

Those who are interested in learning more, can do their own research. Maybe all the Igbo scholars and researchers who have written about 'Igu afa' were probably hallucinating. Who knows? The same people who condemn a person for pointing to articles cited on the internet as a source of verifiable information, would readily pull off articles from the same internet, when they want to justify their own warped, myopic view. Pity! Let's hope illumination would one day dawn on them.
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by laudate: 3:46pm On Jul 02, 2007
Donzman:
@Laudate

If you have been true any of these naming ceremonies, please show and tell. You can easily tell that Yorubas have naming ceremonies, it is there for all to see, why is the one for Igbos something you only read about in historical tales?. . .We're not more Christian than Yorubasto dump our naming ceremony!. . .Igu Afa is not a ceremony, like I already told you, when kids are born, family members suggest names from far and wide, there is no diversion of traffic like you experience in Lagos during Yoruba naming ceremonies!

You see, when I said you failed comprehension exercises in school, I wasn't far from the truth.

You are equating a Yoruba naming ceremony solely with a lavish party! That is plain silly.

From what I have seen, a Yoruba naming ceremony is a simple, traditional affair where names are given by the family members, prayers are said by the elders and things like salt, honey, sugar cane, 'orogbo' etc. are used as symbolic items to add colour & depth to the prayers. Gifts are given to the baby, or money is dropped in a plate for the child's mother to hold in trust for the kid. It is only celebrants with deep pockets, that throw a large party to mark the event. Not all Yoruba families do that. So this your description of a Yoruba naming ceremony, solely as an event marked by "diversion of traffic ", is plain silly!! wink

http://www.folklife.si.edu/africa/photo2.htm

As for Igbo naming ceremonies, I do believe TerraCotta has already answered the question in his posts. If it never existed, why would eminent Igbo scholars (and foreign ones too), decide to write about it?

@everyone,
Now that the issue of tribal marks have been trashed out, can we all move on?
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by TerraCotta(m): 4:15pm On Jul 02, 2007
Laudate--you sef, you don try grin I was just talking to someone about Urhobo markings (I was thinking about your grandfather's neighbor from the Niger Delta with the 'rings' on her arms). She said they were mostly done for beautification purposes, not identification etc.
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Nobody: 4:32pm On Jul 02, 2007
yawning yawn yawn.
donzman,GC,Zulu,freewilly and ninetofive,davidylan are all my relatives,according to terracotta.
how amazing.
and why are you talking about suicide? shocked,because I had no naming ceremony and you insist I should have had one? shocked

one last yawn awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww                     nnnnnnnnnn     with both hands in the air,back curved and neck tilted to the right
Have a great week people,I sure will.
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by seun001(m): 4:43pm On Jul 02, 2007
i wonder if sleeping dogs will ever be let alone, na wah oooo!
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Mustay(m): 4:57pm On Jul 02, 2007
seun001:

i wonder if sleeping dogs will ever be let alone, na wah oooo!
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by TerraCotta(m): 5:05pm On Jul 02, 2007
babyosisi:


donzman,GC,Zulu,freewilly and ninetofive,davidylan are all my relatives,according to terracotta.


I said
expecting my cousin or my aunt or my internet chat buddies to corroborate every new thing I find out about
makes little sense. Read again, and please cover your mouth when you yawn. It's rude not to do so in certain cultures cheesy

ghettochyk:

. . . the thing that's making you mad is the fact that your mother or whoever took care of you your zoo keeper was/is decided to vandalize your already fxcked up face with a machete.

Didn't even notice this before. You know the discussion's gone off the deep end when people resort to making stuff up and insulting people's parents etc. Your name suits you well, sha. You can feel free to say whatever insults you come up with---I won't be bothering to reply to you wink
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Nobody: 5:22pm On Jul 02, 2007
seun001:

i wonder if sleeping dogs will ever be let alone, na wah oooo!

The pikin wey talk say im mama no go sleep, im sef no go sleep. grin Carry go peeps.
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Nobody: 5:35pm On Jul 02, 2007
touchy touchy terra cotta
PMS in shirt and trousers grin

What you can't do is expect anyone to trust your limited knowledge or that of your relatives, who I'm sure are very pleasant people, but none of whom seem to be experts on Igbo culture.

memory is failing cotta
can I help with gingko boloba grin
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Tonim(f): 5:40pm On Jul 02, 2007
laudate:


The same people who condemn a person for pointing to articles cited on the internet as a source of verifiable information, would readily pull off articles from the same internet, when they want to justify their own warped, myopic view. .

I have observed this too. Hypocrisy at its best.

Now that they don't have any legit argument to make, they are resorting to cheap personal attacks.

What a pity  cry cry
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Nobody: 5:50pm On Jul 02, 2007
Like how I found out in 1995 that blacks were subhuman according to a book written by an Englishman in the 15th century shocked

I hope tribal marks don't have the words ignorance inscribed lipsrsealed
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by TerraCotta(m): 5:57pm On Jul 02, 2007
babyosisi:

touchy touchy terra cotta
PMS in shirt and trousers grin

memory is failing cotta
can I help with gingko boloba grin


Big girls shouldn't cry, mama osisi. I was referring to the relatives you mentioned in that quote, and I mentioned your fellow chatters who didn't know about igu afa in another part of my post (quoted above). It's really not that complicated, is it

It's spelled 'biloba', by the way.
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Nobody: 6:33pm On Jul 02, 2007
my bad,biloba.
Why wouldn't you know grin

igu afa means naming.
It does not mean naming ceremony.
My parents gu m afa when i was born means they gave me a name.
anyi n'agu nwanyi afa means we are naming our baby.

anyway,I'm done with that,all this free Igbo lessons for nothing.
Please extend me an invitation when you find terra cottress, and you are naming your little  terra cutie, grin I'm dying to see what goes on in these yoruba version of "Igu afa"that Igbos are denying grin
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by laudate: 6:41pm On Jul 02, 2007
babyosisi:

igu afa means naming.
It does not mean naming ceremony.
My parents gu m afa when i was born means they gave me a name.
anyi n'agu nwanyi afa means we are naming our baby.

Oh my goodness. . . .the irony of it all! Hehehehe. . . .haven't laughed this much in years! I guess those who name their babies usually do so in utmost secrecy, within the privacy of their bedrooms or kitchens, without anybody being present. Cool! cool
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Nobody: 6:59pm On Jul 02, 2007
laudate:

Oh my goodness. . . .the irony of it all! Hehehehe. . . .haven't laughed this much in years! I guess those who name their babies usually do so in utmost secrecy, within the privacy of their bedrooms or kitchens, without anybody being present. Cool! cool

What type of naming ceremony where you expecting? Of course they dont name the babies in secrecy, when the baby is born every older family member (grandparents, uncles, aunts) or as many as the parents of the baby contact to send names give names. After a while the parents announce the names they have chosen for the baby and chikena story don finish!

No, no one needs to be present save the parents when the name of the baby is chosen. No one was present when my cousins where named and at least 14 of them are igbo! And yes they all did so in the privacy of their bedrooms.
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by laudate: 7:10pm On Jul 02, 2007
davidylan:

What type of naming ceremony where you expecting? Of course they don't name the babies in secrecy, when the baby is born every older family member (grandparents, uncles, aunts) or as many as the parents of the baby contact to send names give names. After a while the parents announce the names they have chosen for the baby and chikena story don finish!

No, no one needs to be present save the parents when the name of the baby is chosen. No one was present when my cousins where named and at least 14 of them are igbo! And yes they all did so in the privacy of their bedrooms.

Thanks for the confirmation. I will make sure that one of my Igbo cousins who is expecting his first baby, adheres to the 'privacy-of-their-bedroom' rule. The guy was actually planning to hire a caterer, and have an r.s.v.p (rice, soup very plenty!!) kind of gathering, within his yard. I must remind him to conform to the tradition. cool
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Freewilly(f): 7:15pm On Jul 02, 2007
laudate:

Thanks for the confirmation. I will make sure that one of my Igbo cousins who is expecting his first baby, adheres to the 'privacy-of-their-bedroom' rule. The guy was actually planning to hire a caterer, and have an r.s.v.p (rice, soup very plenty!!) kind of gathering, within his yard. I must remind him to conform to the tradition. cool

Now that davidylan proved you wrong you trying to be funny, dude you not fooling anyone angry Any why in God's name do you all have Igbo Cousins, makes me wonder
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by laudate: 7:18pm On Jul 02, 2007
Freewilly:

Now that davidylan proved you wrong you trying to be funny, dude you not fooling anyone angry Any why in God's name do you all have Igbo Cousins, makes me wonder

Oh dear. . . .here we go again!! undecided
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Nobody: 7:25pm On Jul 02, 2007
laudate:

Thanks for the confirmation. I will make sure that one of my Igbo cousins who is expecting his first baby, adheres to the 'privacy-of-their-bedroom' rule. The guy was actually planning to hire a caterer, and have an r.s.v.p (rice, soup very plenty!!) kind of gathering, within his yard. I must remind him to conform to the tradition. cool

there are no hard and fast rules. I do not claim to have all knowledge of igbo customs but i'm only speaking from the experience of those i have seen, observed and grown up with.

and btw you all of a sudden now have an igbo cousin too? shocked
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Nobody: 7:35pm On Jul 02, 2007
What type of naming ceremony where you expecting? Of course they don't name the babies in secrecy, when the baby is born every older family member (grandparents, uncles, aunts) or as many as the parents of the baby contact to send names give names. After a while the parents announce the names they have chosen for the baby and chikena story don finish!

No, no one needs to be present save the parents when the name of the baby is chosen. No one was present when my cousins where named and at least 14 of them are igbo! And yes they all did so in the privacy of their bedrooms.


David maybe she'll finally understand you.
You see what I've been seeing?
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by Nobody: 7:36pm On Jul 02, 2007
and between you all of a sudden now have an igbo cousin too?


Igbo cousins that had naming ceremonies,allahu akhbar!
why can't people stop korokoro lies shocked
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by laudate: 7:38pm On Jul 02, 2007
@Davidylan,

Go back & read all my previous posts on this thread & other threads. Then you'll see how I got related to my Igbo cousins. Am tired of repeating myself. *yawn, *

@Babyosisi,

Oh, I understand you. . . .perfectly. You, on the other hand, have deliberately chosen to 'misunderstand' what everyone else has been saying on this thread. Free your mind.
Re: What Is The Significance Of The Yoruba Tribal Marks by laudate: 7:40pm On Jul 02, 2007
babyosisi:

Igbo cousins that had naming ceremonies

Um. . . .tsk, tsk. . . .you are looking for someone else to exchange words with. Um, that is so sad.

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