Kudos to Akhenaten/EzeUche/Ochi-Agha/Omenani/Rousseau for the cultural initiative, hopefully we'll see threads with pictures of traditions of Hausa, Yoruba, Efik/Ibibio/Annang, and other cultures.

So far I only know of a thread with general present day Northern pictures.


I'll be starting another thread on Benin art and architecture if there isn't already one.

I'll start with a few from simple online searches and move onto pictures uploaded from articles.





OBA EWEKA II (OBA OF BENIN - 1914 to 1933)






OBA AKENZUA II (OBA OF BENIN -1933 to 1978)






OBA EREDIAUWA (OBA OF BENIN - 1978 to date)






CORAL BEADS AND CLOTH REGALIA FOR OBA






Aftermath of the Punitive Expedition






OBA OVONRNRANMWEN - Guarded before exile.

[OBA OVONRANMWEN (OBA OF BENIN - 1888 to 1914) ]

http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/html/aisien.html


^^^^^^^^^^^

Traditional Benin tatoos and the origin of some modern Benin attire

[img]http://2.bp..com/_ytgJBaeUgnk/STqLaB_1BtI/AAAAAAAAAGk/8kL2QXEVeVo/s1600/moon%2Bon%2Bhat.jpg[/img]


A modern picture.

Not sure who this is exactly.

The traditional upper body scars and tatoos in Benin:

"Iwu, depicted on many brass and ivory figural works (Figs. 9-11), are of considerable antiquity. The practice survived until the 1940s. They can still be seen on very old people but are disappearing as the senior generation dies out. Dierick Ruyters, the Dutch chronicler who sojourned in Benin City early in the seventeenth century, gave us our first description: "[The Bini] cut their body from the armpits to about the groin, or in the middle, with three long cuts on both sides, each one finger broad, and consider this a great virtue conducive to their salvation" (1602, in Talbot 1926, vol. 2:399). The merchant David Nyandael later commented on the gender variation of the tattoos: "The females are more adorned with these ornaments than the males, and each at the pleasure of their parents. You may easily guess that this mangling of the bodies of these tender creatures may be very painful; but since it is the fashion here and is thought very ornamental, it is practiced by everybody" (1705, in Talbot, p. 399). In 1889 the Englishman C. Punch described the operation: "All girls had to undergo it. The child was laid down and held by the mother, and the expert proceeded to scrape the skin at the place required, with a sharp glass, very lightly, as one erases a blot of ink on a book. I was not told that anything was rubbed into the skin . . . but the child's suffering was acute" (in Talbot, p. 399). A quarter century earlier, Sir Richard Burton had described the tattoos as "three broad stripes of scar, like the effects of burning, down the front of the body from the chest to the lower stomach," and also mentioned the forehead iwu: "vertical lines of similar marks above the eyebrows" (in Talbot, p. 399).

While these commentaries testify to the antiquity and continuity of iwu, they are silent about its origins. Here one has to rely on oral histories. In one version collected by Ekhaguosa Aisien from Unionmwan Orokhorho (pers. com., 1985), a traditional surgeon, the tattoos originated during the reign of Oba Ehengbuda in the late sixteenth century. Ehengbuda married the daughter of the Yoruba ruler of Akure, but she refused to consummate the marriage because he did not have "Akure tribal marks." The enraged Ehengbuda abused his wife, word of which reached the Alakure. When Ehengbuda visited Akure, his father-in-law attacked him with a cutlass, and Ehengbuda's body thereafter bore the scars of this assault. So as not to embarrass their king, his subjects imitated them. Jacob Egharevba, however, offered a different account (1968:15): iwu originated with Oba Ewuare (ca. 1440). Ewuare, distraught over the death of two of his sons on the same day, punished his subjects, who then fled the city in panic. To stem this exodus and ensure that deserting subjects could be easily identified, Ewuare ordered everyone tattooed.

Both narratives point to an essential purpose of iwu: to mark citizenship and birthright. Visible and indelible, the tattoos acknowledged one's right as ovien-oba, "slave of the king." For every freeborn citizen of Benin, "I am a slave of the king" remains a declaration of ethnic pride. The ancient Roman boast that one was a citizen of Rome is quite similar.

Although Nyandael and Burton stated that tattooing took place during infancy and youth, the information we have is that it occurred when "a young man came of age" and "during spinsterhood" for young women, that is, between puberty and marriage. Although the tattoos were marks of ethnic affiliation, they also expressed a social commitment to marriage. Indeed, marriage made them mandatory--no man would marry a woman without them (see Punch's comment). The community called a mother's children omo iwu ("children of the tattoo" when necessary to distinguish them from more distant blood relations such as a grandchild. The tattoos were thus transformative, signaling a change in jural status (unmarried/ married, youth/adult). "



from "The clothing of political identity: Costume and scarification in the Benin Kingdom" by Ekhaguosa Aisien and Joseph Nevadomsky

The body tatoos were eventually transferred to the new clothing that was adopted:

[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8790.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8791.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8792.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8793.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8788.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8784.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8795.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8796.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8797.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8798.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8799.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8805.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8782.JPG[/img]

[img]http://4.bp..com/_ytgJBaeUgnk/SSLYo4oMgJI/AAAAAAAAAE8/1uK-v9Zjm3U/s400/chief+and+dancers.jpg[/img]

[img]http://1.bp..com/_ytgJBaeUgnk/SSBYNuX8HlI/AAAAAAAAAD8/L9uNqOUS6Zw/s1600/Igbinedion%2Bat%2Bhome%2Bthrones%2B1994.jpg[/img]


http://iyare-penn..com/2008/11/glamour-in-benin.html

Igue festival

Chief Eghobamien Ogbomo

Chief Nosakhare Isekhure

A lot of these are really colorful, but can we have more traditional clothes from everyday people and not the ones worn by nobility, i want to see the compare and contrast with those worn by the yorubas and the igbos.

rabzy:

A lot of these are really colorful, but can we have more traditional clothes from everyday people and not the ones worn by nobility, i want to see the compare and contrast with those worn by the yorubas and the igbos.

From my experience, most Edos don't wear traditional clothes much except for special occasions. That's why I don't have many of the pictures of everyday people you're requesting. If you can find any, feel free to post them. I have a few more I will post but most of them are not everyday people.

a facebook picture of women at the Edo National Association convention in the U.S.

I think because of the location of Edo between the yorubas and the Ibos, we often want to wear clothes that are similar to these cultures, but am aware our men in esan have a traditional clothe called egbu esan, it exactly like the wrapper worn by the Ashantis that goes over the shoulder.

PhysicsHD:

Kudos to Akhenaten/EzeUche/Ochi-Agha/Omenani/Rousseau for the cultural initiative, hopefully we'll see threads with pictures of traditions of Hausa, Yoruba, Efik/Ibibio/Annang, and other cultures.

PhysicsMHD:

From my experience, most Edos don't wear traditional clothes much except for special occasions. That's why I don't have many of the pictures of everyday people you're requesting. If you can find any, feel free to post them. I have a few more I will post but most of them are not everyday people.

Hello to both of you.

I am a non-Nigerian. I recently joined this forum because I am interested in learning about Nigerian culture.

I have been participating in a forum (A Catalogue of diversity), posted by a user who left Nigeria at a very early age, and who also wishes to learn about Nigerian culture by "conversing with particular individuals who can best provide me with a wealth of information" (Quote). Others who joined the forum expressed similar wishes.

I tried to contribute to the aforementioned thread, to the best of my abilities, but since I'm a foreigner, my knowledge of the subjetc is very poor indeed, and my contributions  are certainly not the best  .

I was wondering if you would kindly lend me a hand, if it's possible for you to do so.

I'm particularly impressed by your threads and contributions. I would also like to ask you some questions about websites, books, and any other sources from which I can learn.

Thank you for your attention.

Kind regards,

I love this thread.

From the pictures and picture illustrations, there are similarities between the Yorubas and ppl of Edo state.

So the Edo ppl had tribal marks too? What was the history behind it, or did it start around the slavery days?




Seems like the beady shirts were worn only by the royalties. . .

From what my mom told me, the reall coral beads were sourced from deep rivers and therefore were scarce and expensive, so it is not surprising that its the nobles that got decked in them in all its full glory.

The ones we see around today are not the real things, the real ones are still quite scarce and expensive.

OMG!!!, JUST SAW MY GRANDFATHER AND MY UNCLES' PICTURES BOTH HERE, (Not surprised to see my uncle), but MY GRANDFATHER?!!, WOW!!!, HE WAS HAAAAARDCORE!!- Can't believe he had the traditional pattern TATOOED on his body like that--- DEEEEEP!!. That must have been in the days before he was baptised and saved by Christ. RIP pops!!, Love you!

^ Lol

Much respect to all these guys but I always wondered what those guys would do if they had to go to bathroom real quick dressed like that.

Edo state 2much, lol

lol. other Attire fine pass this.

more.

more

more.

hum! they are beautifull i love them

more