Welcome to Ijaw Legends.

Welcome and thanks a lot for visiting this blog.  

The purpose of the blog is to highlight and share information and knowledge about the cultural legends of  the ijaw people and explore their  connections and significance from the times of our forebears to contemporary times.This blog is still a work in progress and will develop in structure and design as we we go along. I have become impatient - like a pregnant woman long past her 3rd trimester, I just can to wait to give birth to this baby.  

Yet a note of warning, I disclaim myself to be an expert in these matters, I share here what I have been opportuned to gather out of curiosity in my interactions with the foremost custodians of our heritage - the Ijaw elders.  Well some were old hunters and fishermen, canoe carvers and palm wine tappers and yet some Professors and dons of the historical craft.  As for me, I like to see myself as a story teller.

Who are the Ijaw? 

Briefly, the Ijaw is the major ethnic group that populate the Niger Delta of Nigeria.  they can be identified by their language which has however been dispersed over time as the people migrated from their central locations several hundreds of years ago.  Today the Ijaw can be found in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and parts of Ondo states in Nigeria.

In Rivers State, which is our catchment area for most part of this journey of discovery, the Ijaw  is mostly represented by the Kalabari, Okrika, Ibani, Nkoro although aspects of their culture can be found among the Ogoni, Andoni among others.

AN INTRODUCTION  

It would seem that the music, dance and masquerades of the Ijaw people emanate from the very core of their geographical, physical environment. The Ibani shall be used as a focal point for this introduction. Like its neighbours, Bonny Kingdom is a fully riverine community, whose culture and entire way of life is influenced by the sea, rivers, creeks and estuaries that surround it. The people were predominantly fishermen and depended on this trade up until their contact with white missionaries, traders and western culture. Their evolution into traders came about the time they took the vantage position as middlemen for both the white traders and their suppliers from the hinterlands. The trade and commercial past of the of the Ibani is famous with great men, great enterprises, wars fought to acquire and maintain sea routes and markets, and to enforce territorial authority and sovereignty. Around the Niger Delta at that time, history  the  establishment of great entities and whole kingdoms and the rise of slaves and ordinary folks to positions of greatness and recognition, the establishment of great commercial centers and the coming into being of great kingdoms and peoples like the Opobo. 

Foremost historians, like Prof. Alagoa, have recorded the lives and times of these historical patriarchs and the paths they laid out for future generations like ours to honour and preserve. The present generation owes these noble professionals a world of gratitude for highlighting the treasures of the past for the illumination of the present. Prof. Alagoa leads a cream of noteworthy Ijaw sons like Prof Derefaka, Prof SJS Cookey, Prof. Ejituwo and others. It is strongly arguable that of all indigenous professionals in the Niger Delta, these historians have made the greatest contribution in giving the people a sense of identity, self-knowledge and an intrinsic pride in their history, origin and heritage.

However, we can not afford to forget those aged wise men, griots and local historians who preserved the traditions as passed down to them by their forebears and from whom the academics gleamed the original history of life in our native land before the rape of western civilization, and thus the rupture and decay of the original values and the fabric of our society and belief systems. These wise men and women take their place in history as the archives which secured this rich historical data for the consumption and subsequent preservation by the academics who turned the modern spotlight on the past with their pen. 

My objective in this study is to X-ray the origin, sources and identity of the legends the Rivers people celebrate in their cultural dances. In order to do this effectively, I have delineated Rivers state into legend clusters.

The concept of legend clusters is predicated on the fact that legends are distributed among ethnic groups and extend even beyond boundaries separated by independent kingdoms and clans. Thus a legend cluster would trace historical lineages, connections, linguistic affinities and group all these distinct characteristics into one whole. It could be construed as a tree- a legend tree - with a plethora of branches and as with the nature of trees, the legend tree (i.e. the legend cluster) possesses one distinct root. This root connects the entire cultural manifestation of a people to their origin, peculiar history, and belief systems.

Legends can be both cultural and human. Human legends refer to exploits and identities of great men of old who walked the Earth in their time, led their people and built kingdoms and communities and at whose death were “deitised” by their people. The Andoni (Obolo) deitised Obolo their founder who became Yok Obolo and was subsequently worshipped as god; King Jaja of Opobo was a legend - a slave-boy who became king founding his own Kingdom but dying as a captive of the British; King William Dappa Pepple, was a pagan king who brought Christianity to his people and by extension to the Niger Delta, among others.

Then there are cultural legends without human elements passed down through generations buoyed by Oral traditions, folklore and myth. These legends sometimes are the main components of the people’s traditional beliefs. Through these legends, the people get to know the origins, characteristics and supernatural powers of the deities and marine spirits they serve, worship and make sacrifices to. These deities and spirits are believed to be alive to the present day and are manifest during rituals and festivities when they possess masquerades representing them or priests and priestesses during divination – during orukoro gatherings. The Orukoro phenomenon is a larger than life component of the traditional Ijaw society. To understand the full meaning of “Orukoro”, consider the two elements - ‘Oru’ and ‘Koro’. ‘Oru’ is a general name ascribed to marine deities and spirits whereas ‘Koro’ is the phenomenon of being possessed by the ‘Oru’. Thus “Orukoro” brings the presence of the deity or spirit in the midst of men through the channel of its priests and, or  priestesses. However, the concept of Orukoro and the powers it wielded (and still wields) among the Ijaw is fodder for another discourse.

According to a native historian in Bonny Island, the kingdoms established along the Atlantic coasts regardless of their historical origin and route of migration live among mermaid spirits. The very first day the great ancestors drew up their dug-out canoes and step out onto the sandy beaches or muddy creek-ends or river banks, they stepped into the domains of the marine deities and their people (The “Owuamapu” which can be interpreted to mean “citizens or people of the marine spirits world”) which subsequently formed the nucleus of their belief systems and social consciousness.

Now, the personality and peculiarities of these cultural legends are often the entities celebrated during cultural festivals and carnivals. A people’s physical environment largely influences their pattern of life and  culture. Culture of course includes a people’s craft, food, habitation, trade and means of livelihood, religion, rights of passage, music and yes, leisure and entertainment. According to the academics, legends, folklore and myth may not be applied as veritable sources of history due to the lack of material evidence to corroborate the historical facts they present, but these are the heritage of the people, the sources of their beliefs, the glory of their gods, and the identity they cherish. They may not contribute to tracing the origin of the people, but they are carriers of a rich coloration of expression- joy, happiness, sadness and awe. They are the contents of tales by moonlight, by the village square and private homesteads. By them are morals taught and they expose the vicissitudes and charms of life.

Some legends end in stories, some acquire phenomenal and material characteristics re-enacted from year to year, generation to generation, through the centuries to the present and will probably continue into the for-seeable future as youths continue to show surprising interest in their heritage in the face of strong competition from the church, westernization and the challenges of pop culture. These are the great masquerades you see today, these are the central focus of the cultural festivals and carnivals that light up the landscape of the   communities of the Niger Delta and other areas of the countries with long traditional history.

But who are these masquerades? What are the legends behind them and where did they come from? How did the present generation  acquire the art or dance form, costume, masks or head carvings and drum beats peculiar to each entity. Who were or are the Eqwenyies of the Okrika, They Agiris of the Kalabari, the Ngulas and Olominiakis of the Ibani?  How did they evolve into the present art forms with this much significance on the lives of the people and how did they evolve into masquerades that are celebrated season after season from past generations to the present. To do this, we would have to go back in time to explore the dusted recesses of the memories of the living archives in our midst today - the elders who recall the lore as passed down to them by their fathers. this whole journey shall be guided by my record of what the elders have to say of the origins and my own experience of these legends as they play out in the present.

The Owuamapu! 

It is believed across Ijaw land that these people of the marine world, from time to time take on human form (although not at all times), cross eternal boundaries into the spheres of the mortal to play, dance and bask in the sun. Children stories and western literature talk of the mermaids as imaginary creatures – half woman/man, half fish that live in water, beautiful and comely and generally good-spirited. These cultural legends however, transcend mermaids and border around spirits and deities which control (so to speak) certain geographical areas and whose influence is strongly felt within that enclave.  According to the beliefs of the people this influence is felt or seen from season to season.  A legend’s characteristics may be representative of the people’s experience or by direct instruction by the deity itself as represented by its priest or priestess.  

The Owuamapu are the true copy-right owners of most dance and masquerades in Ijaw land from Brass to Okrika, Abonnema to Bonny, Bille to Nkoro, Yenegoa to Bakana, etc. But for a few concepts developed by courageous creativity, maiden dances and other human oriented performance arts, every other art form for both great, small or ceremonial masquerades was past down from the owuamapu to men.

You will observe as we study these legends individually, the similarities in contact with humans. According to oral tradition, some legends were captured by man, some trapped in fishing nets, some left their paraphernalia and fled into the river on sensing human presence, yet some voluntarily gave specific instructions on how to perform or reproduce their art on land.  Often, when these “treasures” were acquired, they were deposited at the feet of the Chief or King of the community whose prerogative it was to decide what to do with the find. Chief priests and spiritualists were summoned to consult the spirit world to identify the personality of the entity in their possession, how to appease them and of what use they could be to the community. Most times, these consultations were not necessary as the spirits themselves possess whoever they choose to communicate with the people. There could be immense catastrophic consequences in other cases, as the deities go to war against the community for desecrating them, often killing several villagers until a way is found to stop the carnage. One particular case is the MiniMini Mgbila of Oloma, Bonny. The deity continued taking its pound of flesh year after year even to the 20^th Century. The prize: an only child of his parents, male and in his prime!

 

The Ogbokuruama, 

This phenomenon represents the custodians of the culture of the land and people, through the vehicle of Owuogbo. The owuogbo has the responsibility (when it has been determined) of developing the entity into a masquerade with its own dance steps, peculiar moves and characteristics, lyrics and drum beats according to their understanding acquired through divination or from what the captors saw of the spirits.  

The Owuogbo is like a performing arts club or society pioneering, preserving and protecting the dance art of the people as passed down from generation to generation. The peculiar nature and origin of their repertoire demand that they be in constant communication with post masters (ancestors) and the deities and spirits whose lifestyle they re-enact in their art forms. An elder, during this study demanded local gin to pour libation in respect and salute to every deity mentioned or discussed in order not to incur their wrath.

Masquerades are prepared for their performance in an enclosure called “Ikina”. The Ikina is a space set aside either within an already existing house or one custom-built for the purpose. The Ikina is the Owuogbo’s domain, completely out of bounds to non-members. Masquerades (Owu) are not prepared and outfitted outside where everyone can see. The audience and on-lookers see the finished products which represent the deities or entities in question. Masquerades can not be unmasked in the open- this is a great taboo. In fact, heavy fines are paid when this occurs. They can not speak to onlookers or be spoken to (especially when the identity of the masquerader is known to the onlooker or spectator) – they are perceived to “spirits”.

The Owu head or masquerade head is made of wood and sculptured in the likeness of the original masks captured or by inspiration from the deity to the wood carver. They are then decorated (with wood dye, uhie) and other attachments as defined by the peculiarities of each entity. The dancer or masquerader is finally adorned with costume of choice pieces of cloth and rattles on both feet, etc.

The masquerades, regardless of their significance, whether they are big or small, before they step out from the Ikina, are committed to the spirits of the gods and deities for guidance, protection and dexterity in performance. Some greater masquerades will require some sort of rites of passage. The performer will be isolated for seven days, avoiding contact with the outside world, not eating food prepared by women and abstaining from sex. This ritual prepares him for the day of performance, giving him strength and keeping him “sacred”. Often, this process makes him a worthy vessel for the possession of the deity.

Apart from this extremities, performing masquerades can be routine and without much ado; although all traditional requirements must be fulfilled. In the olden days, and even today, Chieftaincy Houses keep their own Ikinas and Owugbos . Every member is encouraged to participate and on occasion, masquerades were decorated by contribution by every member of the house: food, drinks, George wrappers, time and money are all contributed. 

Today, the Owuogbos and Ikinas are more prosperous and independent having acquired their costumes and property and in some cases, have gone “global” like the Ibaniwari “International” Owu-ogbo of Grand Bonny.

This concludes the introduction and I hope its not been boring and unnecessarily academic.  I'd rather have history discussed in very light and leisurely atmosphere devoid of long bibliography, notes and reference.  I like to see history first as art (entertainment) then a soft science.

welcome aboard, I hope you'll enjoy this journey.

Herbert.