Lakal's Posts
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tpia@:Winch ke, are you alright? Do you know me from somewhere? Cause I sure don't know you. Instead of educating yourself, you are throwing insults. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhB3aEft35U Please, only respond with salient points, not ad hominem attacks. O se |
Tpia, how is tattoing/scarification done with henna? Does henna last for years now? Scarification Henna Tattoing w/ink are all different. Why they are not common anymore is that Christianity viewed these practices as devilish. Accept that you didn't know about an aspect of Yoruba culture, and now you do. Simple. |
The funny thing is that due to Christianity and Islam people have forgotten parts of their culture. (I'm not saying that is always bad, because there are plenty of things that should have been done away with). Tattoos marking your body being "evil" or "uncivilized" is def. Christianity and Islam's influence. Funny enough, tribal marks (not tattoos) were once seen as the mark of a "civilized" person among the Yoruba. "covering your unclothedness" is another one. Even though we didn't walk around nude, we exposed more of our bodies than the Europeans did, especially when working on the farm. Yet, we didn't see it as sinful in those days. |
tpia@:Nope, from Ekiti, not Badagry. My great aunt is also in her 80s. Our body decorations in Yoruba culture are not only the tribal marks (abaja, gombo, etc). Even tribal marks were not big in every part of Yorubaland. There's an Ekiti traditional mark (three short marks on each cheek) but it is almost dead, very few people bear that mark anymore. Women used to get incisions made on their stomachs and other parts of their bodies that were decorations, especially those born into certain families. Beyond Diversity: Women, Scarification, and Yoruba Identity Olatunji Ojo Body marking constituted one way of defining African cultural identities. Among the Yoruba, markings, given modern terminologies, were of two types. First, tattoos (approx: ara fínfín), involving a range of incisions and/or paintings on the body and varied with class, age, gender, and fashion. In 1863 Richard Burton, a British diplomat at Abeokuta, described the artistic elements of Yoruba tattoo, which he noted varied from “the diminutive prick to the great gash and the large boil-like lumps” in the images of “tortoise, alligators, lizards, starts, concentric circles, lozenge, right lines, welts, grouts of gore, marble or button like knots of flesh and elevated scars, resembling scalds.”70 Tattoos also formed part of Yoruba chieftaincy and medical rites. On installation, the Oyo army chief Are-Ona Kakanfo receives 201 incisions (gbẹrẹ) on his head so that medicine could be rubbed into his veins to make him fearless and courageous.71 As living symbols, tattoos, particularly those associated with fashion, usually moved with time based on generational and fashion preferences. The other type, facial and/or torso scarification (ilà bibu/kíkọ), though similar to tattoo, involves cutting or making an incision into the skin, and then allowing the wound to heal, leaving a permanent scar. Scarification refers specifically to ethnic and lineage identities, like those of the Alaafin |
Egba girl:There are birds on many of the beaded crowns (Ade Ileke) of Yoruba Obas. The bird is the Okin, the royal bird. |
It's funny when people say something is or is not part of the culture. Are you the authority on what is or is not asa yoruba? I have seen elderly Yoruba women (my great-aunt) with tattoos (a giant snake or something on the back, but I only saw part of it obviously, covered by wrappa). I never asked what the significance was, but it looked like a old-time religious tattoo, even though she is now a very staunch Christian. |
ChinenyeN:Ok, I see. @Ezeagu I was referring to Olu/Oru, the riverine people. |
Ezeagu, what is noted here is how the Onitshas conceived of the Igbo speaking world: the people of the East bank were Igbo, and the People of the West bank (but also including themselves) were Enuani people. The term Enuani is still in existence, as is Igbo. (Is Enuani similar to the term "Olu" that is used in 'Olu na Igbo bu nwanne?') Other sources also mentioned how the Onitshas historically looked down on the people that they termed "Igbo," as did some of the other Enuani people, such as the Ikas. (Similar to how Oyo Yorubas looked down on non-Oyos) |
I'm not really in your debate, but I like historical topics such as the origins of the term "Igbo." Basden, which I cited earlier, seems to support Chinenye's Northern/Western Hypothesis: The origin of the word Ibo is obscure. In the records of the early explorers we do not meet with the name. The country on the left bank of the Lower Niger was spoken of as Elu-Ugwu, which simply indicates "high land "(hill). That on the right bank was called Ado, and this rather refers to Benin. There was a small town between Onitsha and Idah called Igbo, but this could hardly have supplied the name by which the whole country is known. The name was, doubtless, first met with at Onitsha. The people of this town claim to have come from the western side of the Niger, and some of the leading families state that they are of Bini stock. Thes[b]e people designate all the eastern hinterland as Ibo, and the western side of the river as Enu-Ani. [/b] The word is now usually spelt and pronounced Ibo, but to the native it is Igbo, the gb being used as an explosive sound. |
Notes on the Ibo Country, Southern Nigeria The people of Aboh use two words for the Ibo Country, Elu-Ugwu and Isu-Ama. In the use of the former we may note that the men of Awka, a town lying 20 miles due east of Onitsha, claim to be "brothers "of the Aboh people, and one has heard it asserted that there the pure Ibo language is spoken. This claim receives some support from the tradition that a certain king of Aboh, being desirous of evading death, visited a famous shrine in Elu-Ugwu to inquire by what means he might live for ever. It is very probable that the idea of such a pilgrimage was put into his mind by a travelling smith from Awka, who also acted as an agent for the Oracle (Abwala) of his town. |
Obiagu1:Not true, the Ijebus believe that they are indigenous, but their oral history also involves Oduduwa coming to the land. In every Yoruba subgroup there is an Oduduwa connection. In addition, the Oyo empire created a lot of cultural homogeneity, there is much less dialect variation, and there is wide acceptance of a standard language (Oyo Yoruba) as a result. |
Obiagu1:Very true -- there is Igbo-Ukwu, Akwukwu Igbo, Igbuzo, Amaigbo. However, some Igbo (or Igbo-speaking) subgroups saw the word "Igbo" as an insult and didn't use it for themselves, |
If anything "Yoruba" identity is stronger because of the shared belief in Oduduwa as forefather, or founder of the modern Yorubas. But it's safe to say that the neither the Igbos nor the Yorubas saw themselves as one, united, people before colonization. |
exotik:Interesting. |
I wish there were more high-quality cultural dance videos on youtube! Ondo, once again. [flash=400,400] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvPlRkjYDxo&feature=relmfu[/flash] |
Traditional music from Ondo Town -- Mo duo t'o Oloun [flash=500,500] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDxrRvN6qjM[/flash] Aye Ma San [flash=500,500] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUQs6inaugg[/flash] |
Ileke-IdI:Bini ke? This is Idanre dialect from Ondo State, very similar to Ondo/Ile Oluji dialect. This whole "Bini acculturation" is overrated. Sometimes you're just seeing the similarities between different cultures. Yoruba music and dance varies greatly among the many different Yoruba groups. |
Chamillionaire is Nigerian, 100%. You can read the interview in Vibe if you want to, who says he's denying his heritage? |
Do they tattoo snakes on their backs cos i'm not aware of any such thing. Are you from badagry or something?