by
Obododimma Oha
Igbo culture extends signification to trees.
Dating back to ancient times, the idea of some things representing or standing
for other things has reigned in public life. Along this line, something
representing another thing is based on the hope that communication obstacles
would be surmounted and that the other person would finally understand what we
mean. Lucky enough, we have bodies and organs saddled with the task of
articulating representations of the representation. Maybe if we were from
another lifeworld and do not need the so-called speech organs, we would order
our representations of representation differently. Maybe we would just see
other entities and use other means to figure out their intentions and respond
appropriately, as shown in some science fiction movies and writings. So, that
some trees in Igbo culture are assigned representation roles is not strange at
all. It only reveals our limitation in our world and an attempt to deal with
such limitations in communication.
There are some ancient cultures where trees
feature in representing the mystic, something the Eurocentric would quickly
dismiss as being animistic. The point is that ancient people might have known
keys to what would appear to us as "mysteries" about trees that could
"talk" and how, about trees that could give longevity, and about
trees that could serve as traveling portals (what in some Christian Nollywood
movies is featured as a demonic manifestation!)!
The trees one would like to focus on are
interestingly perennial in nature (that is, the ability to survive adverse
conditions and to live for a very long time!). I will reflect on this later and
try to make the necessary connections. But let us for now name and reflect on
the trees.
Ngwu
Ngwu is considered a sacred tree in Igbo culture,
to the extent that it is not to be cut down and used for fuelwood at all. In
fact, in the folklore, a song points to the sacredness of Ngwu and warns
that it must not be cut down:
Anyuike egbule Ngwu
Na o bu oke osisi
(The axe must not cut down Ngwu
Because it is a great tree)
Interestingly, this particular song and saying in
Uri is from the mouth of the masked spirit whose words are highly revered and
taken entirely as "the truth." The actual referent in the song is not
the tree, but something that is seen as standing in symbolic relation with Ngwu!
Maybe the masked spirit itself! In that case, it is simply as way of
cautioning: "Don't try to test the powers of the masked spirit or try to
destroy it! It is risky, very!"
Another Igbo chant would say:
Anyuike gburu Ngwu -o
Isi adighi ya mma
Gburu Ngwu
Isi adighi ya mma!
(That axe that cuts down Ngwu tree
It is mentally unwell
Cuts down Ngwu
It is mentally unwell)
It was
observed in Black Orpheus of 21st April 167 as follows: "The Ngwu
tree sacred and mystic; it is a symbol
of magic and super natural power" (see the following lovely poem of Odo
masquerade published in that edition of Black Orpheus also):
I live by the Ngwu tree
Near the Nkwo market.
He who hastens to a fight
Knows not his death awaits him there.
Remember, my sons, the day
You called upon me for help,
Remember the wilderness
Where I encountered the foe:
It is for you to say what happened.
You have needed an increase of wealth,
I gave it before you asked:
I knew you had no male children last year,
Today their cries are heard in your compounds.
"Living near the Ngwu tree" is total
security. Which axe that is mentally unwell will come there to cut carelessly?
One near the Ngwu tree has a protector, a shield of shields. That resident has
no worries, for Ngwu is safety, not just
that it guarantees it!
Ngwu, in real social life, as indicated above, is
also revered. it is used in marking off land boundaries, partly because it is
perennial as a plant. It is also used in other serious rituals, but not viewed
as a common tree. In other words, it has been selected by the culture to become
a special tree and to feature in ritual functions!
The human being is also metaphorised as Ngwu or
seen as being linked to Ngwu sacredness, as such names as:
Okongwu (okoro Ngwu, or a man that is or belongs
to Ngwu).
Nwangwu (Offspring of Ngwu)
Ngwu (as a praise-name)
That the attributes of sacred Ngwu are copied to
somebody means that the person needs to be treated just as Ngwu in the culture.
Naturally, the ancient Igbo revere human life, and so would treat the human as
containing or representing more than flesh and blood. The human is more than
flesh and blood!
Anunuebe
Apart from Ngwu,
another important tree which also features in the signification of the masked
spirit is Anunuebe (Nnunuebe). Literally, Anunuebe means that "No bird
perches on it" or "No bird has the courage to sit on it to
rest." This is obviously frightening. If no bird has the courage to perch
on it, it means that it has tremendous magical powers -- and it does! it means
that Anunuebe is not just an ordinary tree: it is a tree that is not
just a tree. It is a tree that can transform and cause to transform. It is a
tree that can do things. It is, therefore, special; in fact, sacred.
Why is Anunuebe a favorite among local herbalists
and performers of the masked spirit? Is it just because of the attributed
sacredness? There is something dark and frightening here: the mere mention of Anunuebe is scary: so, even birds are
afraid to perch on the tree? That tree that is avoided by birds must be
terribly potent and evil! Is that not enough warning? Thus, Anunuebe is descriptively named to warn
and frighten, indirectly. The warning is analogical: if birds avoid it, which
other warning (about danger) do you need? A
naghi agwa ochinti n'ahia esula (No one informs a person hard of hearing
that the marketplace is in some turmoil). That fellow just has to look and see!
Ogirisi
Ogirisi is also a very prominent ritual tree in Igbo
culture. Perennial and used to indicate land boundaries, headsides of graves,
and to handle ritual cleansing like washing of hands after handling corpses,
digging of graves, and burial of corpses, Ogirisi
is perhaps the most visit sacred tree in Igbo culture. The graves of those men
die outside marriage (i.e. as bachelors) are traditionally symbolized with the Ogirisi "holding" the kitchen
knife for them (Ogirisi ikpara ha mmaekwu).
The knife in question (representing lack of fulfillment) is placed on the Ogirisi on the grave to mark the absence
of a wife (to hold it, to mourn him!).
Oji
Am I forgetting Oji the kolanut tree? This tree is also special in Igbo culture,
partly because the nut is used in so many ritual ceremonies. Is it in welcoming
visitors, to commence ceremonies, to sue people, etc? Oji the kolanut is highly
revered and so its tree.
A tree accorded so much honour, maybe for being the
goose that lays the golden eggs (that produces the symbolic and revered nut),
it attracts the following treatment, among others:
(i) One person is not understood as the owner of Oji, although one person can plant it.
It is always communally owned, making many share in its wealth. It, therefore,
stands as their bond, just like the nut is used for traditional communion.
(ii) The branches of the tree are not normally
cut for fuelwood, even if the tree could be pruned;
(iii) The tree is valued above all other trees
around and used for cash cropping.
Thus the tree of the kolanut is a great
narrative, just as its nut through its symbolic mathematics could tell
something about a ceremony. It is as if it narrates space and time as phenomena
of our lives and nodes of inheritance. The tree is not the only tree around,
but is seen as symbolizing the connection of the past of the ancestors and the
present of their survivors. It is the present that inherits the past, that
continues the past and its narratives.
The presence of kolanut tree in that homestead is
the presence of the womb of life, the continuity of the narratives introduced
in the distant past.
The main worry one has about these trees is that there are many Igbo people are beginning to forget what the trees represent in their culture, especially when some such people have lost touch with their roots mainly due to wrong attention to Western modernity
and education. Does “education” require you necessarily to forget? Does it ask
you to strip naked and walk the streets in a new madness? Is the education
gained at school not supposed to be a complement of the one dispensed by
the home and culture?
One knows that, since signification is generally arbitrary
and is relative to the age and civilization that shares it, it is bound to
shift in time. But to forget signification that makes one’s thinking unique and
to cling to the foreign is to expose oneself to ridicule. And which ridicule is
worse than forgetting oneself and being neither here nor there?
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