of the Earth Mother as to chastity is even more strictly enforced. Like
the Mbolli, this people on starting the new season’s farms early in
January, take up their abode in little huts built on their plantations.
There they spend the space of three months, after which they return to
their town for about four weeks, and then go back for another three
months, weeding the crops and tending them till they grow strong for
harvest.
During all that time strict continence obtains. It is absolutely
forbidden for any man to approach a woman, _even his own wife_. Should
desire prove too strong, the pair must leave their farm and seek their
town dwelling for the purpose. Any breach of this law is thought to
have disastrous effect upon the crops.
Again, while, as already mentioned, it is regarded throughout the whole
of the region as a grave sin against the Earth Mother for a woman to
yield to the embraces of any man, whether lover or husband, while lying
upon the ground, the crime is of yet deeper dye if committed upon farm
land than in the depth of the bush. In olden days a couple convicted
of such an offence would have little chance of surviving the wrath of
their outraged townsfolk. Even now such a charge would bring down upon
the accused the invocation of some reputedly fatal Juju. For instance,
in a case heard at Abua Court (No. 116/14), a woman named Ugenni stated
as follows:
All our townspeople laughed at me, saying that I was having
connections with men under plantains. So I said, whoever
accused me of having connections under plantains, the Juju
Obuku of Amingbokko must kill that person.
The same law against intercourse in the bush--and in some parts in a
canoe--prevails throughout almost the entire Niger Delta. Among the
Jekri it is so strong that in a recent murder case (Rex versus Iyeabor)
it came out that the dead woman had such belief in the strength of
this tabu--and an additional one which enjoined chastity during
pregnancy--that she had no hesitation in going into the bush with her
murderer, a man whom she knew to be desirous of her.
Case No. 297 tried in the Ijaw Native Court of Nembe in January, 1925,
gives the procedure which was adopted in order to convert a ‘bush’
place, where cohabitation was not allowed, into a village, where this
could take place with impunity.
Igoin and his people sometimes stayed at this newly discovered
place for two months, but no cohabitation was to be conducted
there. One of the main reasons why they used to return to Nembe
was because no husband was allowed to use his wife as regards
sexual intercourse there.
Finally an envoy was sent to the Long Juju (that of Aro Chuku)--a
journey which would have taken at least several weeks--to ask for the
necessary ceremony to be performed on the village, so that one can
have connection with his own wife. Alegi returned from the Long Juju
and told Ogede the rites which should be carried out. Ogede performed
the necessary ceremony. The ceremony he performed was first he let a
cock and hen cohabit at Ewelesuo. He brought one thing called ‘Ovo’
(Covenant) from Long Juju, one ‘Odo’ (a red round stuff) and a round
white lime and gave these to the juju to appease the jujus and prayed
that the village should become an inhabitable town and that one can
have connection with his wife. Before this ceremony was performed it
was forbidden for a woman to urinate in the village (Ewelesuo). On this
account one place was chosen and called ‘Sanpogu’ _i.e._ (Waterside for
urine).
Egula and Ogede were friends. After the ceremony had been performed
Egula went after his friend and settled at Ewelesuo. Egula was dancing
a juju called ‘Akpana.’ This juju Akpana and those at Ewelesuo made a
covenant and Egula then ‘danced’ juju at Ewelesuo. Eugla is a native
doctor. Ogede asked the juju, when Egula was dancing it, why they are
not allowed to remain at Ewelesuo in November month. The juju asked
whether he will be able to do so. He said ‘Yes.’ The juju then told
him that, if people wanted to remain at Ewelesuo in November month,
the people should keep a watch-night in the town and when the water
ebb, they (the people) should take all jujus to the water edge and let
the water soak them--which signifies that all the juju has gone out of
the town (Oru iderimo). Then when December came the whole inhabitants
should man one canoe, beat the tom-tom and sing a song and go to a
creek called ‘Orumokolo.’ A prophet native doctor was to be in the
canoe who will say to the people in the canoe that the jujus had come
in. Then the canoe is to return to the town (Oru iwomo) and a juju
called Ogoni is to be danced. Ogede agreed to perform all these. They
(the people) were then to dance on three consecutive days after these
jujus have been performed.
In many parts of the country there is likewise a strong tabu against
the commission of adultery, particularly in the husband’s or
adulterer’s house, and against a woman cooking food for her husband
when she has just returned from her lover.
No sooner is farm work finished, however, than, as already stated,
scenes of licence are not only permitted over the greater portion
of this region, but even enforced in certain parts; for, just as
the priestesses of some temples of old Greece were obliged to offer
themselves to strangers, so excesses, regarded as most reprehensible
at other periods, are encouraged at this.
Among certain of the Brass Ijaw adultery is openly condoned under
certain conditions. It is the custom, for some towns that are friendly
together, to make an agreement that no man will take an action in Court
against any other of their inhabitants and claim damages or punishment
for adultery.
This plea was raised in case No. 253/25 before Amassama Native Court
and an action for damages was dismissed in view of a covenant to this
effect between the towns of Amassama and Agoro.
The cult, in which religious prostitution was perhaps most openly and
extensively practised throughout the Ibo country, was that of Ife-Ala
(literally ‘thing of Ala’ or ‘that which concerns Ala’).
To those few Europeans, who have hitherto had knowledge of this
cult, it appears to have been known as the Ifallum Juju. All natives
questioned on the subject, however, including Chief Gabriel Yellow,
stated that the real name was as above given. The headquarters of this
particular cult of the Earth Goddess were at Nguru, a town to the North
of Okpala in Owerri Division:
All people from neighbouring lands went there and lodges were
also set up in nearly all important towns throughout Degama
District. Many men and women, who could not be cured from
trouble by native doctors, went there to pray for help, but
the priest refused to invoke the aid of the Juju unless the
suppliant brought him a virgin as gift. The priest then took
her as handmaid and she was kept in the temple and hired out by
him to worshippers--especially to sterile men who came to pray
for increased virility. Such ‘slaves of the Juju’ were marked
out by a shaven patch at the top of the head.
There were about three hundred of these girls at Nguru but to none of
them was it permitted to rear a babe, because by native custom they
would have been obliged to refrain from the company of men for the two
years during which they were suckling their offspring--and this would
naturally have greatly diminished their earnings. So soon as a babe was
born, therefore, the law of the Juju ordained that it must be disposed
of in one of two ways; either must it be clubbed on the head and flung
away, or laid in one of the big earthen jars and deposited in the bush
beyond the town.
The Nguru lodge was suppressed about 1913 by Mr. J. M. Binny, District
Commissioner. Great was the joy of the three hundred women thus set
free to rear the babes born to them, instead of being forced to slay
these at the harsh behest of the covetous priest of Ale.
A belief in the efficacy of sacrificial blood in order to purchase the
favour of the powers of fertility is world-wide; but perhaps nowhere
in past days did this dread libation flow in such streams as in West
Africa. It is true that now the vigilance of Government and missionary
effort have succeeded, to a great extent, in substituting that of
slaughtered fowls, sheep and goats, for the costly ichor drawn from
mortal veins; but in many a hidden shrine on the banks of unexplored
creeks or in the depths of the silent bush--wherever indeed a chance
occurred to do so in secret--human victims were till lately offered
up. Especially was this practised at the season when the yam vines
first send forth tender shoots to clothe the poles with green--as a
means towards strengthening the new crops--and at harvest, in gratitude
to Ale for her bountiful gifts of garnered grain. At such times it
was dangerous for any unprotected wayfarer to venture forth beyond
the borders of his own country, since strangers were very liable to
seizure for such a purpose. Kula, the centre of many strange and
terrible cults, bore an ominous reputation in this respect, until its
evil practices drew the attention of Government and, as a result, the
principal shrines were destroyed.
In May of one year, a chief stated, they chanced to sacrifice
a Brass woman. I do not know how she managed to disappear from
her own town, but the Kula people caught her for their Juju.
Always they made sacrifice when the new yams were coming up
from the ground. Every Juju of every nation demands a victim at
that time of year. News of the sacrifice of this Brass woman
was brought to Mr. Binny when he was D.C. of Degama; so he went
down and destroyed that Juju house. Word went forth that it
was to be burnt to the ground, whereon the people came to him
and said: ‘May we not take the sticks of which it is made to
mend our own compounds?’ Therefore he gave permission and the
townsfolk pulled it down themselves. In the shrine were found
many skulls carved from wood in exact imitation of real human
skulls. There too were human figures, finely painted; some like
those modelled in clay in the ’Mbari houses and others like the
’Nduen Fobara (ancestral images) in Kalahari shrines.
Yet another link between ancestor worship and that of the Earth
Mother Ala is to be found at Omo-Ala (children of Ala)--a town in the
south-eastern part of the Division which proved to be a great centre
both of the cult of the Earth Goddess and of the forefathers.
Here, as in most other Ibo towns, nearly every compound has its sacred
tree which is usually a specimen either of Ojji (_Chlorophora excelsa_)
or Oil Bean (_Pentaclethra macrophylla_). In this the souls of the
departed are thought to dwell while awaiting reincarnation. So long as
the least fragment of the tree lasts, the faithful shades cling to its
ancient trunk or branches or even retire into the furthermost rootlets.
For this reason, when one of these giants falls beneath Time’s axe, the
family to which it belongs marks the place where it formerly stood and
no farm may be made thereon again. Were this not done, it is thought
that the ghosts might be imprisoned for ever since they could not break
through the earth to return to the light of day, lest, by so doing,
they might injure the sown crops of Ale.
Before the last rootlets of the ‘ghost trees’ return to the dust
of Mother Ale, the spirits announce to their family through the
mouth of some medicine man that a new tree must be chosen for their
dwelling-place. The homes of such ancestral shades are obvious, even to
the most careless passer-by, from the earthen pots or bowls and the
freshly-offered plantains, etc., which may always be found amid the
roots.
At the planting of new farms the members of each compound assemble
beneath the family tree and give a great play. At such times they bring
gifts and dance and sing, robed in their best, praying the ancestral
shades to guard the seeds laid in the bosom of Mother Earth and help
them to come to fruition. Again, at harvest time, another play is
held to thank the ghosts for their share of the crops. A part of the
increase is always set aside in gratitude to these beneficent spirits.
There is an interesting point to be noted about such ‘ghost trees.’
In this part of the District only the souls of good men are thought
to await reincarnation in these peaceful dwelling-places, gladdened
by sunshine, quickened by gentle dews or warm fertilising rain and
refreshed by soft breezes. It is a matter of firm belief that, however
fiercely tornados may rage around, these are spared. The branches
of such trees are never rudely torn nor dashed together, while no
thunderbolt has ever been hurled against their sacred trunks.
The ghost of an evil man would in vain seek admittance within the
shelter of the family tree, but would be driven forth by the shades of
his blameless kin to await, in animal form, a new term of earth life.
Young brides, therefore, often linger beneath those trees in which
dwell the souls of gentle ancestors, in the hope that one such may
choose her as his Janua terrae. Among Owerri Ibo, however, a different
belief is held; only the ghosts of those foully slain, whether by
force or witchcraft, are thought to seek refuge in the tree tops, there
to wail and cry throughout the hours of darkness and in time of storms
with a pitiful sound ‘like a small chick or a piccan but a few days
old,’ until the guilty cause of their untimely death has been brought
to justice.
It has already been mentioned that ghosts, who have taken on brute form
while awaiting reincarnation, sometimes fall upon women who chance to
pass through their haunts. By means of the animal body, which they
temporarily inhabit, these evil spirits force their unfortunate victims
to bear a babe, into which the sinful soul may enter--thus procuring an
earlier return to mortal state.
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 47. Shrine of Ojuku juju at Woji]
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.