TRIBAL MARKS IN AFRICA: AN EXPIRED AESTHETIC EXPRESSION

IBIYEMI AKINWALE VICTOR

AN INDELIBLE IDENTIFICATION

I remember some years ago, my dad told me of a Nigerian who was arrested in the airport because of his tribal marks. The guy was detained for over a week, quizzed right and left. According to the info we heard, his tribal marks were so deep and serious that airport security thought this man was a cultist. My dad said he was even scared when he saw the depth of the marks[i].

It is common to hear people refer to an individual as colonel, only to discover that he is not a member of the armed forces, but the stripes on his cheeks are the same number as that of the stripes on the uniform of a colonel in the Army. Some are called Tiger, because of their stupendous striped cheeks or some are referred to as everlasting tears because of the perpetual and everlasting marks of tears that the bear. These marked individuals have been subjected to different reactions by others and they have received these reactions from different perspectives. Some have lamented bitterly on these marks that were bequeathed to them as generational inheritance while some others have gladly praised themselves as bearers of a patriotic insignia and they pledged their unalloyed allegiance as such.

In recent times, tribal marks have become very hard to find for reasons which can be attributed to the introduction of western culture and influence, which has brought an end to so many cultural and traditional practices. The art of tribal marking has suddenly declined especially in Nigeria. In many camps, it has been evocatively discussed for its continual in Nigeria, some other circles have not only condemned it but have replaced it quickly with the promotion of tattoos and other bodily markings. Before, we dismiss this supposed obsolete aesthetic expression, it is apt to understand its foundation, rationale, its compatibility and neo-meaning for the modern society.         

AFRICA AND HER EXPRESSIVE AESTHETIC VALOUR

Africa as we know is overly expressive. In everything, the Africans are always in the amplified state. That is even truer in our practice of religion, where Africa has been acknowledged as the most religious continent. Truest also in the practice of corruption- Africa has been alarmed also for its intense corruption. In the same vein, Africa possesses rich aesthetic patrimonies. Erroneously, many think, it is the West that taught Africa everything she knows, but the truth is that the West learnt most of its knowledge content from Africa- infantile as she may look. One of those aesthetic heritages is the art of Tribal marks and bodily designs. The African continent is vast in its reserve of aesthetics and more profound because these reservoirs of beauty are stored filled with values from their cultures. Though these facial imprints are carried out through the most excruciating pain, the aesthetic perseverance of the African supersedes the pain they may inflict.             

With a knife or some sharp objects, the local surgeon begins his traditional journey deep into your flesh. Almost immediately some red colour liquid substance ooze out to the depth and length of the surgeon’s design, then you have vertical and horizontal cuts as the case may be on each side of your cheeks, a little above the corners of your mouth. Now you can be identified wherever you go with that identity that would permanently be kept on both cheeks, rather than in your wallet.[ii]

A persnickety sojourn into the African annals brings to fore that facial marks have a long history on the African Continent. Archaeological findings reveal bronze heads fashioned in  Ile-Ife, Osun State-Nigeria, 700 years ago with facial lines that are thought by many to be ethnic markings. Ancient Nigerian Kingdom of Benin also had sculptural objects carrying facial markings. The Greek Historian- Herodotus wrote in the fifth Century B.C. about Carians living in Egypt who cut their foreheads with knives as a means of proving that they were foreigners and not Egyptians.[iii]

Hence, tribal marks are an age-long art common especially to the Western part of Nigeria that has many patterns of these markings. There are two different types of marks amongst the Yorubas for instance: ila (the well-known facial scars) and ona (also known as “local tattoos”). Both are created using a sharp instrument such as razor blades, knives or glass. Flesh is cut from the skin to create a gash, which later heals and leaves a permanent pattern on the body. Snails (known as Igbin in Yoruba), a popular delicacy in Nigeria, are very important to tribal mark artisans, as the liquid they secrete is used to soothe the pain caused by the instrument used to make the incisions. The unique colour of the ona comes from various pigments such as charcoal and cashew fluid. The question that seem apposite at this juncture is: what could be the palpable reason for marking one’s face?

THE NEED FOR TRIBAL MARKS IN ANCIENT AFRICA

There were pertinent reasons for facial tribal imprints, they were not just drawn because it must be given. In fact, as it concerns the givers of these marks, it was rational and sacrosanct that children receive these tribal emblems. The first major reason that can be adduced for this facial art is for identification purposes. 

Identification of Family, Tribe and Lineage 

Tribal mark is a way of identification passed down from family to family, members of the same village, identification of royal lineage and people from the same lineage. Different sets of people have similar tribal marks that differentiate them from people from a different lineage or village. Since tribal marks are used mainly to differentiate ethnic groups, they vary. There are marks are on the cheeks, forehead, on the temple, under the chin and so on. There are vertical lines, horizontal, both vertical and horizontal, slanted lines on both cheeks. These marks are in patterns based on the ethnic group of their bearer and have different meanings and different names.

Parents also used tribal marks to lend credence to the legitimacy of their children. Hence, a tribal mark on a child is a way of a father acknowledging that he or she is a legitimate child. Some marks run as parallel grooves from forehead, through the temple and cheek to the chin and are complemented with accessory marks from the medial canthus of the eyes downward.

More importantly, these marks were for identification during the tribal wars and slavery.[iv] Even during the civil war in Nigeria, as some people have testified that their tribal marks saved them at that time. Most Scholars and researchers of African History believed it was a necessary means in the days of tribal wars and the slave trade when children were frequently lost or got mixed up.

Religious and Spiritual Protection Purposes

There are other reasons for facial markings; some are associated with spiritual or religious practices. In some Yoruba settings, children born as still-birth or a reincarnated child which is called abiku, a child believed to have been born twice or thrice are given marks on their face and body for several reasons. It is believed that to take away the spiritual powers of the child, he has to be identified by the marks when he/she is given birth to again and to stop the death of the child at a tender age. It can also be used to wade away evil spirits ravaging around a certain group of people or family. In this case, the marks are not only on the face but other parts of the body as well.

In Ghana among most tribes reincarnated child mark known in Yoruba abiku are referred to as “Kosanma” and the marks on the face are known as “Kosanma” or “Donko”- marks. The belief for making these marks are the same as in Yoruba belief explained above.

Medical Purposes

Apart from spiritual and religious purposes, facial marks are given to certain people for the treatment of illness especially children. In this case, traditional healers do incisions on the children’s face or body to treat them for ailments like convulsion, pneumonia and measles. The medical marks can be made on any part of the body where the ailment afflicts that person. These marks are usually very small and some are very difficult to spot.

Aesthetic/Beautification Purposes

Also, in many parts of Nigerian especially the Northern and Eastern regions of the country, tribal marks and tribal paintings play the major role of beautification. Women most especially apply these paintings in bridal contests and engagements. With these black paintings, they mark and design their bodies drawing shapes, figures, pictures of animals and traditional symbols. With all these they adorn themselves in exquisiteness and gorgeousness.          

More to these major reasons for tribal marks, different patterns of tribal imprint meant different things for different peoples. The Hausas from Northern Nigeria have facial markings from the side of the head to the bridge of the nose. While the Igala people from Kogi state wear the marks on both sides of their cheeks with pride. The marks were viewed as a mark of bravery. They regarded those without them as coward who would not face the knife.  The ‘ichi’ mark was a facial scarification worn by mainly men of the Igbo people of South-east Nigeria. The scarification indicates that the wearer has 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 Nkanu areas and Awgu in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Recently, things are however changing as facial marks have become irrelevant as the rampaging western culture and its education have made the culture of tribal marks a thing of the past if not a detestable traditional practice. Could it be that tribal marks have lost their aesthetic flavour?

THE “SINS” OF TRIBAL MARKS AND THE UN-FORGIVING RECIPIENTS

Tribal Marks and Child Rights: The first sin of the art of tribal markings is the abuse of children rights. Children have their rights and their rights should be protected. The infliction of tribal marks is an infringement and abuse of the rights of those who are marked. The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Bem Angwe was determined to ensure that every Nigerian child enjoyed the right to live and to make choices, the adoption of the law in every state will help to protect children from abuses like tribal marks, tattoos, child labour, defilement, witchcraft accusation and other forms of abuses. Many of the grown adult have confessed that the most terrific debacle of their lives is the tribal mark. Some have become eunuch because of this stigma. For instance, Adejuwon Samuel was the only one in his class with facial marks. He recounted his experience: “In school I was made fun of a lot. My mates would call me ‘railway line’ and the boy with the railway line. They were always making jest of me and would raise three fingers to indicate the tribal lines on my cheeks. It made me feel inferior”.[v]

Disfiguration: Sequel to the above is the pain of disfiguration. These tribal marks have become emblems of disfiguration. And these disfigurations have hindered many situations of life. Simbia confessed that “personally, I know these marks are horrible. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been embarrassed by them. I would have loved to be a model, I really loved it, but as I grew up, I realised my face could pose as a threat to such career in the future, so I decided to study a course where my face wouldn’t be a criterion for employment.”

Low self-esteem: Relationships have shown in the society that, people with tribal marks are treated with scorn and ridicule. The reactions of people who interact with them on interpersonal basis somehow dampen their spirit or lower their self-esteem. They are reduced in most cases to laughing stocks in the communities and called several horrible names.   

The Contraction of Deadly Diseases: Long before the awareness programmes on AIDS, many innocent people, mostly children, who were subjected to tribal marks laceration, had inadvertently been infected with the deadly HIV virus, a development that compelled Osun and Ekiti state governments to recently outlaw the practice of tribal marks and female genital mutilation. Sharp instruments used by the locales to inscribe the tribal marks were not sterilised, thus exposing kids, even adults, to the risk of HIV/AIDS.

The burden, the Anguish: Finally, Tajudeen Gbolagade expressed regrets over his facial marks. In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, he said, “I hate it, and I curse the day it was inflicted on me. The marks really disfigure my face and make me feel terrible anytime I look into the mirror. What pains me most is that there is nothing I can do to erase it from my cheeks”.[vi]

THE TRIBAL-MARK REBUFF: THE TATTOO EVOLUTION 

With the jettisoning of tribal mark as an antique aesthetic expression, a contemporary aesthetic replacement was immediately done in the art of tattooing.[vii] The enthusiasm for tattoos has gone berserk. It is indisputable that the loss of tribal marks is likely to become the gain of tattoos, considering the current obsession for the latter all over the world. But just with many contemporary styles, the drive for tattoo has lost the rationale behind tribal marks and adornments. Oluwole Ige hits the urge for tattoos as he argues that “today, people choose to be tattooed for cosmetic, sentimental and sexual drive. Some individuals also inscribe tattoos on their skins for religious and magical considerations and to symbolise their belonging to or identification with particular groups, including criminal or streets gangs… The primary aim is to lure themselves into sexual activities…Towards this end, these tattoos are conspicuously engraved in sexually provocative regions of their bodies such as the breasts and buttocks.”[viii] Tattooing therefore is never a modern replacement, rather it is a grave failure and a gross loss of the sense of morality.

…AND WHAT IF YOU HAD TRIBAL MARKS?

Truth be told! The custom of tribal marks is no longer fashionable. Even the urge for tattoo which is on a rage amongst Nigerian youths is never a noble exercise, so why then do we need to kill ourselves over what is outdated and expired? This does not in any way undermine those who already bear the indelible mark of a patriotic loyalty and allegiance. These people I must say are very lucky to be identified to a noble and historic past that has been crested even unto their skins. Even if they are laughed at, they must recognise it is a noble thing to be identified with a meaningful symbol of integrity and legitimacy. On the other plane, those who wear shameful tattoos like filthy garments should mourn bitterly as they have sold their bodies to the paroxysm of passion. Worse still for those who mutilate themselves! More importantly, for us Africans and particularly Nigerians, what should replace tribal marks today is our behavioural pattern and mode of doing things. Perseverance, good character and patience are virtues that should take the place of tribal marks in our land.   

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[i] Story culled from “Between Tribal Marks and Child Rights” in My Pen and My Paper, www.mypenmypaper.wordpress.com 23, November, 2013.

[ii] Olawale Olaniran, “Tribal Mark- A Significant Mark of Identification among the Yoruba People of Nigeria” in Welcome to my World, BlogSpot, www.olawaleolaniran.blogspot.com 23, November, 2013

[iii] Olawale Olaniran, “Tribal Mark- A Significant Mark of Identification among the Yoruba People of Nigeria” in Welcome to my World, BlogSpot, www.olawaleolaniran.blogspot.com 23, November, 2013

[iv] Dele Bodunde, “The Dying Culture of Tribal Marks” in Edo World, www.edoworld.net/Dyingcultureoftribalmarks  23,November, 2013

[v] Oluwole Ige, “Tribal Marks? Now, it’s the Turn of Tattoos” in 9jabook, www.9jabook.com/m/blogpost.com 23, November, 2013

[vi] Oluwole Ige, “Tribal Marks? Now, it’s the Turn of Tattoos” in 9jabook, www.9jabook.com/m/blogpost.com 23, November, 2013

[vii] Tattooing is a marking made by inserting indelible ink into dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment for artistic, ritualistic or other reasons.

[viii] Oluwole ige, Tribal marks? “Now, it’s the Turn of Tattoos” in 9jabook, www.9jabook.com/m/blogpost.com 23, November, 2013