In the art of body decoration, colour depicts various things. It symbolizes situations, conditions and event. It can be used to convey a sense of awe or reverence. For example, red stands for fertility and marriage, yellow stands for sickness, white stands for purity or for magic, black and indigo dyes are generally used depending on the occasion.
Body decoration is a culture that is universally practiced among the peoples of various ethnic groups of Nigeria to enhance beauty and for aesthetic, religious or ceremonial purposes.
A henna body decoration
It serves as a sort of expression of beauty and indication of one’s age, title, social status, and membership of any reverred group in the society. Body decoration is an art of beautifying the body which includes leg, hand, face, nose, eye and finger among others through such processes like cicatrization or body cuts; body painting; painting of finger nails; the filing and removal of upper front teeth; piercing of lips, nose and ear for different types of ornamentation as well as skin cleansing; adornment of body with jewelries and beads; elaborate hairstyles and clothing.
Nigeria is a land of cultural diversities and this is expressed by the differences in their beauty – aids, despite their apparent cultural fusion. Among the people of Borno State for example, Kanuris adopt a special way of beautifying their bodies through hair treatment, skin cleansing and body making-up. They engage in a type of body decoration known as henna art.
Henna art is a common name for a small shrub whose leaves are used to dye. The orange red dye produced from henna leaves is used to dye the body red. It is also used to stain finger nails; top of the fingers; feet; chest; hair and dye the beards by men.
Henna dye is used in most parts of the Northern Nigeria, though, it was once popular among women in the South. It is used during pre-marriage ceremony, known as, “The night of henna”.
A tatooed hand
Nupe women in the North rub various colours into the skins and hairs, ranging from yellow – dye on their lips, red-dye on their teeth, indigo-dye into their hair, as well as immerse their hands and feet in the pot of henna dye.
Dyes can be obtained from leaves of special shrubs, insects, bark of trees, fruits and mineral ores or a mixture of any of them in grounded or powdered form with oils to paint face or body in various patterns of their choice or peculiar to the community or tribe.
Some dyes or paintings are temporary or short period decoration, mostly used for ceremonies or festivals, while some are permanent or long period decoration and the dye is usually stained deep into the skin.
Among the peoples of Ibo land, Ibibio land and Efik land of old South – Eastern Nigeria, the use of Uli dye is popular mostly during the fattening seclusion and cultural festival. Uli dye is made from the juice of the plant, randi cordata. It is used to paint the hands, legs and body.
The use of juice, Iran’ for dye is also made from pounded caterpillars, mixed with potash and lime-juice. When the juice is painted on to the skin, it causes weals or ridges to appear which remain for a good length of time about three or four months. The juice causes not only weals on the skin but also stains the skin for a short period.
‘Tiro’ is a sort of traditional antimony that is commonly used especially among women. It is made from lead ore, ground and mixed with soot and indigo to get desired colour. This is used to outline the upper eyelid. In Hausa land, women use traditional antimony called “Kwalli” Men also use it.
Their eyelashes are darkened with a black mineral substance ground into powder and carried around in decorated bottles made of hides. A small mirror is usually part of the kit to facilitate the making-up.
Among the Hausa, Nupe and Fulani people, vegetables dyes are produced from a type of Savannah shrub for body decoration on the palms and feet in burnt sienna colour.
It is only the left hand that is dyed, not right hand which is used in handling food. This type of vegetable dye is also applicable to Yoruba women and their neighbours.
Teeth decoration is not left out. It is commonly practiced among the Hausa and Kanuris. They stain their teeth with some special brands of kolanuts both men and women.
Kanuri women in particular stain their teeth reddish with tobacco flowers. Besides staining their teeth as part of body decoration, peoples of different tribes of Nigeria consider it as a form of beautification in filing their teeth or removing their upper front teeth to create a gap between two upper incisors.
identification and protection purpose especially during the time of slave trade.
This is commonly practiced by women who have no naturally existing gap of upper front teeth. Yoruba people call this kind of traditional removal of front teeth as “eji” Most often, the gap is not central.
In the North as well as some parts of the South, nose, ears and lips are pierced for ornamentation. The Kanuris as well as other tribes use gold rings in the nose ornament, similar to Indian female ornament while big coral beads are used by the Yoruba women in the nose ornaments.
The pierced lips are also ornamented. This is commonly practiced among the Jarawa tribe of Bauchi State in which women’s lips are locked to prevent them from talking to other men especially when they are outside their villages.
Facial markings are common among peoples of various ethnic groups of Nigeria. Facial marks in forms of deep scarification are done not only for aesthetic reason but for
Facial marking is common among the Yorubas, Gobirs and the Kanuris as well as other tribes. It is more pronounced among the Yorubas. This is because, they have different names for different types of facial marks according to the number and the length or breadth of lines and their arrangement.
No comments:
Post a Comment