IBUDU

To those who pass through the country with open eyes it is obvious that the phallic cult is very strong among Ibo. Where the Ibibio had contented themselves with a plain mud pillar, set as emblem amid the farm, Ibo take special pains in modelling not only a personification of the symbol, but in showing unmistakably that the circumcised phallus is intended to be represented.

Among Ibo, as with the ancient Egyptians also, the feminine, as well as the male, genital organs are worshipped. Both are rudely depicted under the title Ibudu--a name which embraces the chief protective Jujus[15] erected in town or compound, the primary purpose of which appears to be the granting of piccans, though most also act as protector in general to the family or village of which they are the fetish, and bestow fertility on farm and byre. The feminine part of the Juju is usually in bell shape, instead of the pot or calabash form found among Ekoi and Ibibio. It generally shows the high coiffure only permitted to Ibo women after the birth of a babe. The nose is often joined to the base of the hair ridge and the impaled tortoise, already explained as a feminine symbol, is as a rule seen in the foreground.

Perhaps the most convincing testimony to the efficacy attributed to the feminine genital organ is a carefully carved representation of the labia, which was explained as having been one of the most sacred objects in a great Andoni Juju house, whence it was taken by a man who had no idea of its significance. In course of time it came to my notice and was subsequently added to our collection.

An example of the simplest form of phallic pillar may be found in a compound next door to that of Ababua, head chief of Omo Chuku. Save for two roughly modelled feet at the base, no attempt was made to add limbs to the column, down either side of which a row of rough wooden pegs had been driven. It was explained that each man of the compound inserted one of these on taking a wife, so that the Juju might have a constant reminder of the need to send ‘plenty of piccans’ to their hearth.

piccans]

Chuku]

In another quarter of the same town, in front of Omo Alipo compound, an Ibudu may be seen of which the pillar represents a body from the loins upward--the hands, so roughly modelled as more nearly to resemble feet, resting upon the circular base as though in the act of lifting the upper part through from the earth beneath. The figure is headless; only the end of the central pole and the twigs and tie-tie forming the core, round which such images are modelled, protrude from the broken rim. It is perhaps worth remarking that this pillar, like some to be mentioned later, combines both male and female attributes, somewhat in the style of the Indian Linga.

Perhaps the most highly conventionalised of all such images is one to be found in a shrine built in a prominent position on the main road, just outside the Omo-Ofo quarter of Ndelle. This represents the male part of the Juju. At the other end of the shed a smaller figure is to be seen, bell-shaped and showing feminine symbols. This is typical of most of those intended to represent the feminine creative power, though one of a type more nearly approaching the male form of Ibudu was found, later on, in Chief Wokogg’s compound at Omo Akani, Owerri District.

Just beyond the shed containing the two phallic pillars, a couple of shrines may be seen, one on either side of the main road. That on the right is built in honour of the Juju Onru-Ji (farm yam). This was explained as ‘one very big woman spirit, all same Ala.’ In the ground were many knives and pieces of iron, said to have been placed there by order of the priest who declared that the Juju needed them.

A little further, on the opposite side of the road beneath an arbour-like cutting made in the thick bush, was a piece of white baft stretched between two posts. This is set up in honour of Onru Ka’n Ala, stated to be the husband of Onru-Ji. The chief of the quarter explained:

Both of these Jujus are strong too much. Therefore we never swear a man on their name, because, should he even hesitate to tell the truth when brought before them, the spirit of one or other would strike him dead at once, giving no time for repentance! It is a very strong rule for our part that both Jujus must be dressed by the people of Omo-Ofo before they may eat new yams.

_See page 71_]

At Aloa, a town in the centre of the Division, a shrine is to be seen containing a fetish, the like of which is not, to the best of my belief, to be found elsewhere in these parts. It is in the corner of a room set apart as sacred to Chineke, the Creatrix, in the compound of Chief Wegu, and consists of an oblong block, terminating in a carefully modelled representation of the male genital organs, raised upon three steps. To this the owner makes sacrifice every month, usually at the time of the new moon, in order that ‘plenty piccans’ may be born to those of his house.

_See page 71_]

A somewhat similar fetish was found among the Ale Nsaw Ibo in the shrine of Chief Idu of Oborotta raised upon a clay step in the angle of the wall at the right hand corner. This consisted of two small round pots fixed neck-downward into the clay, while between them protruded a piece of wood, roughly phallic in form, on the upper surface of which two miniature Offor sticks were bound lengthwise and side by side. The object of this fetish was to bring prosperity in general and, in particular, many children to the compound.

A Juju, intended to represent a woman’s body from the waist downward, was found among the same people. This was called Ite Uru, _i.e._ pot of gain, and was supported at the rear by the wall and in front upon two roughly modelled legs. It formed the principal cult object in the shrine of Chief Okuroji of Obokoffia and was set up by the grandfather of the present head of the house, but had been freshly decorated (fig. 27).

Another Juju for bringing ‘plenty piccans’ to the house and for making them grow up fine, strong and tall--also for giving long life to its owner--was hung up to the roof over the main door of the head chief’s house at Ndelle (fig. 28). The arrows were planted so thickly that one could not see of what the oval groundwork was made.

At Ale-Barada, a charming town to the west of the Upper New Calabar River, never before visited by a white man, and which, as its name denotes, is under the special protection of the Earth Goddess, a Juju is to be found, called Ibudu Nwa, _i.e._ Ibudu for children. This occupies the centre of a rectangular shrine and is set beneath a canopy of tie-tie, attached to the roof, from which depend inverted pots, the shape of a shallow bell, each with a twist of gay-coloured cloth swinging, clapper-wise, from its centre. Beneath these hang fringes of palm-leaf, so long, in places, as almost to sweep the market-basket placed upon the neck of the strange, headless figure beneath (fig. 29).

On marriage, before going to the bridegroom’s house, each maiden of the town is brought by her friends to this shrine and, bending before the image, dips her hand into an earthen pot filled with ‘medicine’ which is placed there in readiness. Then she rubs her hands over the Juju, after which she laves them in a small bowl filled with pure water. Again she passes her left fingers over the image and afterwards over her own body; ‘for’ as the head chief explained, ‘Ibudu Nwa is a very strong Juju in our town and will surely grant fruitfulness to all those who carry out these rites. So we were taught by our forefathers and this we believe even to-day. Should any man doubt, he has but to look round and see the many piccans which are born to our town.’

Between the upraised arms, resting upon the place where the head should be, is a market-basket, full of dried roots, seed yams, etc. Outside the shrine, each protected by a small shed, were two unusually large phallic pillars, to which bridegrooms bring offerings. Across all, from post to post, rising like Venetian masts, were long chains made from linked rings of creeper, from which hung, at intervals, inverted bowls with gay-coloured strips of cloth waving to and fro in the breeze, like those decorating the canopy of Ibudu Nwa. To the left stood a great tree, its trunk hung round with white cloth, the reputed home of a powerful and beneficent nature spirit. Before the principal shrine sprang little saplings of the bush which Ale first brought when she came swimming through the wide waste of waters to form the first abiding place for her children--men, beasts, trees and flowers.

Altogether Ale-Barada is a charming spot and the manners of the sons of the soil were unusually gentle and friendly. They willingly answered every question, in striking contrast to the inhabitants of the next town, Oduaha, where a Juju of somewhat different type is to be found. This was sullenly explained to us as without name and only used for protection--‘not to give piccans.’ The canoe upon its head was likewise stated to have been put there ‘only to look fine. Not for any purpose.’

At Omo Hume, a quarter of Omo Dioga, another Ibudu was found, which was said to be intended as a representation of the Earth Goddess, here called Aja. In a little clearing to the right of the main road stood a shrine of unusual size, sheltering two phallic pillars. The smaller of these, placed in front and a little to the left, was obviously female and smeared with blood from the breast downward. The rear figure bore no name save ‘Husband of Aja,’ or at least none other was confided to us. So tall was this that it filled the whole space from floor to roof, looming, colossal and with a certain impressiveness, from out the shadows at the back of the shrine. Between the two, on either side, lay a piece of plaited palm-cloth, black and white, such as widows wear in some parts; while two deep fringes of palm-leaf were hung before the entrance, screening the strange, rude deities within from the glances of passers-by.

It was explained that the cloths were those of barren women, and had been laid at the feet of Aja and her spouse in the hope that, when resumed by their owners, the ban of sterility, imposed through the hate of some rival, might be broken by the power of the fertility-bestowing Earth Gods.

quarter of Akpani]

At Bush Digiriga again, a small town to the east of the Sombreiro River inhabited by Abuan people and never before visited by Europeans--a Juju ‘for the obtaining of piccans’ is to be found, which in many ways resembles the Ibo Ibudu. About this particular fetish, however, there are certain points which we never met elsewhere. In addition to the high coiffure--a recognised symbol of femininity--the head is provided with a square beard in shape like those false ones worn during certain dynasties by Egyptian rulers, especially queens reigning in their own right. It is perhaps worth noting that, while the arms of the figure are mere stumps, without any attempt to reproduce hands, and the feet are so rude as to be almost shapeless, the phallus is modelled with the utmost care, showing that in the minds of its makers this detail was of very special significance.

Outside the entrance to the Omo Dara quarter of Akpani, an Ibudu of unique type may be seen, one looking-glass eye twinkling in the middle of its head beneath a ring of feathers set crown-wise in the clay. Before it, to a four-branched post, a medicine-pot was bound.

In the midst of the quarter, beneath a little palm-leaf hut, stands a group of Ibudu. The largest of the pillars represents the female, the smaller the male, attributes. They are modelled seated back to back--a prostrate leopard lying to the left and a crater-like mound, containing a pot for Juju medicine, to the right. Chief Woke Abara, head of the quarter, gave the following explanation:

‘Formerly it was very hard for us to get children. Nearly all our women were barren, so we raised the two Ibudu, one male and the other female. Since then we got plenty piccans in our town.’ He added that the ‘leopard spirit’ helps the Juju to prevent the deaths of children. The small cone in the foreground and the headless animal lying in front of this were the work of the few children then existing.

With regard to the figure of a leopard, it is perhaps worth remarking that the ancient kings of Benin were wedded, in mystic spousals, with a leopard bride. Also, among those Ibo dwelling in the group of towns round Igrita, the spirits of the righteous dead often take up their abode in leopard form while awaiting a new term of earth life, but those who enter into crocodile, ape, or bush cat, are regarded as for ever accursed.

Amid a branch of Kalahari settled at Oguta in Owerri District, a type of Ibudu is to be found, not, so far as our knowledge goes, to be met with in other parts. Each of these emblems consists of two sphinx-like figures, one male and the other female, facing different ways but joined together by a ridge of clay, which forms, as it were, the back of the sphinx.

At the Ibo town on the far side of the beautiful Oguta lake, we came across another phallic pillar combining the figures of the dual personality, male and female, of the Ibudu Ezum Mezum. As in the case of the Ale shrine, described on page 74, the consort was nameless, bearing no designation save that of husband of Ezum Mezum. The figure representing him held the place of honour at the base of the column which symbolises the joint attributes of the Juju; while, at a height almost double that of the husband, towers the face of the wife. On either side of the pillar, out-topping the male figure from the neck upwards, climb two great crocodiles; while placed here and there, at irregular intervals, human heads stand out in high relief.

Chief Onomonu, the owner of the shrine, told us:

The Ibudu Ezum Mezum is mostly worshipped at Amaii in Abaw District and priests came thence to build this shrine for us. It was made at a time when a great sickness was raging in our town, in the hope of staying this scourge, granting protection and prosperity in general and especially to help our people in the bearing of piccans.

At its installation, about twelve years ago, the Abaw doctors held a great ‘smelling out,’ and, in consequence, decreed that the epidemic was caused by the witchcraft of the six _richest_ women of the town, who must therefore be put to death and their property be made over to the medicine men! When informed of their doom, the victims refused to acquiesce and were therefore beaten to death in the market-place. The number of heads, modelled at irregular intervals over the pillar, corresponds to that of the victims thus slaughtered at the inauguration ceremonies--four at the back and two in front, between the sacred crocodiles. All are liberally smeared with blood poured upon the heads and trickling downward. This is the only example known to us at the time in which an Ibudu is so represented as to show the dual creative forces, male and female, combined so as to form a single pillar. Many Ibudu were later seen among the Abaw Ibo of Kwale District, where this particular type of symbol would seem to have reached its greatest development.

The phallic figures, above-mentioned, are, however, by no means the only examples met with in West Africa of the mingling, in one object, of male and female symbols. For instance, the emblem of the greatest of all Ekoi Jujus, Eja, unmistakably combines the two. Here, the phallus, represented with the uttermost pains and fidelity, is the sign of the harvest god himself, while the bowl-like object to which it is attached represents the womb of his wife Ekumoke. The united symbol stands upon a base formed of wide-open human jaws.[16]

Among the Ekoi, both in the South Cameroons and Southern Nigeria, as indeed throughout the greater part of the West Coast generally, a pot or calabash is regarded as a feminine symbol, and it is of considerable significance that traces of male semen have been found in no inconsiderable number of the pots set before Ibudu images and in other Juju shrines throughout the Ibo country. This fact is vouched for by a medical officer.

In the ritual chant sung by Ekoi at the festival of Eja, which is also the feast of the first fruits, the names of the combined deities are always invoked:

Man Eja! I am staying with you. O, I am staying with you! Ekumoke! I am staying with you. O, I am staying with you!

Of these two deities it was expressly stated: ‘Eja is male and the most strong. Ekumoke is less strong than Eja; nevertheless without her help he can do nothing.’

During the annual rites a woman was formerly sacrificed and the genital organs cut out and laid in the sacred pot, which contains the ‘medicine’ of the cult. Since the coming of Government it has naturally become increasingly difficult to obtain this necessary ingredient, and it was a matter of grave anxiety on the part of the priest lest the power of the Juju should decrease in consequence.

Amidst some of the eastern Ibo sub-tribes and the northern Semi-Bantu, the ancestors are represented by small clay pillars or mounds, clay balls or round or pointed stones, before which sacrifices are made and prayers offered for the granting of fertility, especially at the two great festivals of the year, the planting of farms and the harvest.

In those parts of the country where rock is available, _i.e._ among the northern Yoruba and Semi-Bantu, many stone monoliths may be found, some of which are unmistakably phallic, while others are used not only for this worship but also as ancestral memorials. In fact, the two cults are inexplicably mixed, as is natural when it is remembered that amongst these peoples fruitfulness is, to a large extent, attributed to the forefathers. Some of these memorials date back many hundreds of years; a fuller description will be found in Chapter XVII, vol. ii, of _The Peoples of Southern Nigeria_.

In the club-houses of the great Ekkpe secret society the sacrifices are made before a phallic monolith, which represents the former members of the club as also the tutelary deity, while in, or near, its base are generally placed rounded pebbles, the symbol of the Earth Goddess. A similar monolith is worshipped amongst many of the Bantu and Bafumbum-Bansaw as a representation of the supreme deity.