TRIBAL MARK- A SIGNIFICANT MARK OF IDENTIFICATION AMONG THE YORUBA PEOPLE OF NIGERIA.

With a knife or some sharp objects, the local surgeon begins his traditional journey deep into your flesh. Almost immediately some red colour liquid substance ooze out to the depth and length of the surgeon’s design, then you have vertical and horizontal cuts as the case may be on each side of your cheeks, a little above the corners of your mouth. Now you can be identified wherever you go with that identity that would permanently be kept on both cheeks, rather than in your wallet. Facial marks have a long history on the African Continent. The archaeological findings reveal bronze heads fashioned in Ile-Ife, Osun State-Nigeria, 700 years ago with facial lines that are thought by many to be ethnic markings. Ancient Nigerian Kingdom of Benin also had sculptural objects carrying facial markings. The Greek Historian- Herodotus wrote in the fifth Century B.C. about Carians living in Egypt who cut their foreheads with knives as a means of proving that they were foreigners and not Egyptians.

In Yoruba Land, tribal marks are usually connected with a tribe or tribes; tribal art of people. If we check the cheeks of the vast majority of the people of Nigeria, especially the Yorubas, we would observe that a great variety of tribal marks consisting of a number of scars on the cheeks are arranged in different patterns. Quite a lot of people do not know the reasons for the tribal marks.

Why Yoruba people of Nigeria wear tribal marks? There was a story of this popular King who reigned in the old Oyo Empire. The king was said to be in possession of so many slaves which was common to all kings at that period. There was a day that one of the slaves- a female, misbehaved, she was caught in the act of adultery with one of the guards. The King inquired from his youngest wife the kind of punishment they should give to that very slave who misbehaved. The woman looked at the slave in question very well, she discovered that she was beautiful to behold and to her, that was why she was committing adultery. She then requested the guards to take the slave somewhere and be tortured. She gave them order that they should use various kind of sharp objects like razor, knife and so on to deface her so she would not look attractive to any man that come her way. The guards acted according to the instruction given to them by the Madam and they locked up the slave for seven good days. After the seven days, the King’s wife requested that the slave should be released and brought to the palace for her to examine. When the King’s wife and guards saw the tortured slave, they saw beauty in another dimension because the scars that came out of the torture have added another beauty to the slave and according to the giver of this account, that marked the beginning of tribal marks in the kingdom.

Another account attributed the reason for tribal marks to the incessant wars in the past which made some tribes, families to lose their loved ones. We mean those days when war was rampant in Nigeria, that was the period that children were missing. The strong folks sold into slavery the children of the powerless/less privileged folks, and along with their wives. Not only that, several adults were also missed. They were been sold into slavery to other countries. Those sold to slavery usually finds it very difficult to recognize one another, if by any means they met elsewhere- even if they are from the same family or from the same town. It was then, the elders thought that there should be an identity or means of identification when they see or meet one another elsewhere. This would make them know from which family or town the other person is from as soon as they see the tribal marks.

In Yorubaland, if you see some men or women wearing tribal marks, you would notice that it looks good on majority of them. Definitely, those one regard wearing tribal marks as an act of beautifying themselves. With close examination, one would observe that these tribal marks differ from one area to the other, one community to the other. These marks serve as identification of "membership" of one of the major sub-tribes among the great people of Yoruba: Igbomina, Oyo, Owu, Ijebu, Egbado, etc. The marks can be vertical or horizontal. In this case there is a pair of four short horizontal marks on each cheek. Four horizontal scars, in a number of variants, are typical for the Oyo region in Yorubaland. Most Scholars and researchers of African History believed it was a necessary means in the days of tribal wars and the slave trade when children were frequently lost or got mixed up

Today, the practice of facial markings is on the wane. Hardly will you find parents subscribing to the idea anymore. This is especially true in the cities. The pain and the risk of infections coupled with scorn from people not properly disposed to the tradition are some of the factors taking facial marking off many lovely faces.

_________________________________________________
Olawale S. Olaniran is a freelance writer, youth advocate and Social Entrepreneur. He can be reached on olaniransundayo@gmail.com +234 7033955770, 8054031719 and BBM: 22666BFB.