In Edo culture, what is Iwu?
You may have noticed some Edo people with various markings on their sides, backs, and stomachs and wondered why they had those markings. Within the Edo culture of southwest Nigeria, these markings are referred to as Iwu.
The Iwu tradition did not experience a significant decline until relatively recently, and today the majority of Edo people with Iwu markings are over 70 years old. The custom persisted up until the 1940s, but nowadays it is rare to see a young Edo person with Iwu markings on their body.
The practices of marking, scarification, and tattooing are not foreign to African culture; they have been practiced there since the dawn of time for stratification, identification, and other purposes. However, the Edo people chose to mark their bodies and torsos rather than their faces or their legs. The Yoruba “Ila” is an excellent illustration of facial scarification or marking.
Before abandoning the facial markings and inventing Iwu, the body and torso markings, the Edo people accepted this art of facial identification marks, also known as tribal marks, until five centuries ago.
Eligibility.
In Edo land, who is eligible to possess Iwu?
Iwu is learned during the period between adolescence and adulthood, unlike the Yoruba people’s facial Ila, which is acquired a few months after birth. Iwu, in essence, represents adulthood. Before getting married, Edo men and women would typically have their Iwu completed.
Despite the fact that Nyandael and Burton claimed in their accounts that the marking or tattooing happened when they were children and young adults. Because slaves were not permitted to have Iwu markings in Edo land at the time, Iwu also stands for citizenship.
Iwu is drawn, who draws it, and how?
The Osiwu, the Edo society’s customary surgeon, inks the Iwu body or torso markings. Early in the seventeenth century, Dutch chronicler Dierick Ruyters spent time in Benin City and wrote:.
Iwu body markings.
Iwu markings on a male.
“[The Bini] cut their bodies in three long, one-finger-wide cuts on either side from the armpits to about the groin, or in the middle, and regard this as a great virtue leading to their salvation.”.
Later, the businessman David Nyandael made the following remarks regarding the gender-specific markings:.
The males are less ornamented than the females, and each is done so at the parents’ pleasure. You can probably guess that this mutilation of these delicate creatures’ bodies might be excruciatingly painful, but since it is fashionable and seen as extremely ornamental, everyone does it.
Iwu markings on a woman.
The male Iwu body markings are made up of seven marks. Six of the points are awarded to the OBA and his offspring. In total, there are sixteen marks on the female’s body. They receive fifteen of these points if they are female OBA offspring.
However, according to history, Iwu markings weren’t present on ancient Edo people until after an incident, which brings us back to the origins of Iwu.
Background of the Iwu Markings.
Oral histories that have been passed down from one generation to the next are the basis for Iwu markings’ origin.
In one rendition, which Ekhaguosa Aisien obtained from Unionmwan Orokhorho (pers. Com. The tattoos date back to the reign of Oba Ehengbuda in the late sixteenth century, according to (, 1985), a traditional surgeon. The Yoruba ruler of Akure’s daughter, whom Ehengbuda married, refused to have the union officially consummated because he lacked the customary tribal markings of her people. “.
As soon as the Alakure learned that the enraged Ehengbuda had abused his wife, they intervened. Ehengbuda’s father-in-law attacked him with a cutlass while he was in Akure, and the attack left scars on Ehengbuda’s body. His subjects imitated them in order to avoid embarrassing their king.
The Iwu body markings.
A different account was provided by Jacob Egharevba (1968:15), who claimed that Oba Ewuare (circa. 1440). Ewuare, who was grieving over the loss of two of his sons on the same day, punished his people, who then fled the city in fear. Ewuare ordered everyone to get tattoos so they could all be easily identified and to stop this exodus.
Due to the practice’s abolition since the 1940s, it is now uncommon to find an Edo native with Iwu markings.
Teslim Omipidan, however, will go down in history as an event that will never be forgotten. This is true of the Edo people’s Iwu, or body markings.
