| Nsibidi | |
|---|---|
 A symbol simply described as "Nsibidi name written" by Elphinstone Dayrell in 1911.[1] | |
| Script type | Ideographic |
Period | circa 400 AD – present |
| Languages | Ekoid/Ejagham,Efik,Ibibio,Igbo |
| Related scripts | |
Child systems | anaforuana (Cuba),veve (Haiti), “Neo-Nsibidi” (Nigeria), “Akagu” (Nigeria) |
Nsibidi (also known asNsibiri,[2]Nchibiddi orNchibiddy[3]) is a system of symbols orproto-writing developed by theEjagham the southeastern part ofNigeria.They are classified aspictograms, though there have been suggestions that some arelogograms orsyllabograms.[4]
The symbol system was first encountered by Europeans in 1904.[4] Excavation of terracotta vessels, headrests, and anthropomorphic figurines from theCalabar region of southeast Nigeria, dated to roughly the 5th to 15th centuries, revealed "an iconography readily comparable" tonsibidi.[5][6]
There are several hundred Nsibidi symbols. They were once taught in a school to children.[7] Many of the signs deal with love affairs; those that deal with warfare and the sacred are kept secret.[7] Nsibidi is used on wall designs,calabashes, metals (such as bronze), leaves, swords, andtattoos.[2][8] It is primarily used by theEkpe leopard society (also known as Ngbe or Egbo), asecret society that is found across oldCross River region among theIgbo,Ekoi,Efik,Bahumono, and other nearby peoples.
Before thecolonial era ofNigerian history, Nsibidi was divided into a sacred version and a public, more decorative version which could be used by women.[8] Nsibidi was and is still a means of transmitting Ekpe symbolism. Nsibidi was transported toCuba andHaiti via theAtlantic slave trade, where it developed into theanaforuana andveve symbols.[9][10]
Robert Farris Thompson glosses theEkoid wordnsibidi as translating to "cruel letters", fromsibi "bloodthirsty".The context is the use of the symbols by the Ekpe society in the Old Calabar slave traders who had established a "lavish system of human sacrifice".[11]In old Cross River region, Nsibidi is mostly associated with men's Ekpe society. The Ekpe societies were a legislative, judicial, and executive power before colonisation in parts of Aro Confederacy,[citation needed] including Igbos, Efik, Ibibios who exerted much influence over the oldCross River region, located in today's Nigeria.[6]
The origin of Nsibidi is now generally attributed to theEkoi or Ejagham people of the Northern Cross River,[12][13][14][15] though in the 1900s J. K. Macgregor recorded a native tradition attributing it to the Uguakima or Uyanga section of theIgbo people.[16][3][17]However, the Nsibidi of the Ejagham people predates Macgregor's stay in the area and he may have been misled by his informants.[18]A few years later, the anthropologistPercy Amaury Talbot [fr] was unable to verify the tradition recorded by Macgregor and concluded that the claims of the Ekoi to have created the system were more plausible.[19]
Nsibidi has a wide vocabulary of signs usually imprinted on calabashes, brass ware, textiles, wood sculptures, masquerade costumes, buildings and on human skin. Nsibidi has been described as a "fluid system" of communication consisting of hundreds of abstract and pictographic signs. In the colonial era, Nsibidi was characterized by Talbot as "a kind of primitive secret writing", with Talbot explaining that it was used for messages "cut or painted on split palm stems". Macgregor's view was that "The use of nsibidi is that of ordinary writing. I have in my possession a copy of the record of a court case from a town of Enion [Enyong] taken down in it, and every detail ... is most graphically described". Nsibidi crossed ethnic lines and was a uniting factor among ethnic groups in the Cross River region.[6]
Nsibidi spread to other parts of Nigeria, especially the Igbos, who are neighbors to the old Calabar people (theEfik,Ibibio andAnnang).
Nsibidi was used in judgement cases known as 'Ikpe' in Enion, an Igbo subgroup, according to Macgregor, who was able to retrieve and translate an Nsibidi record of an ikpe judgement.
The record is of an Ikpe or judgement case. (a) The court was held under a tree as is the custom, (b) the parties in the case, (c) the chief who judged it, (d) his staff (these are enclosed in a circle), (e) is a man whispering into the ear of another just outside the circle of those concerned, (f) denotes all the members of the party who won the case. Two of them (g) are embracing, (h) is a man who holds a cloth between his finger and thumbs as a sign of contempt. He does not care for the words spoken. The lines round and twisting mean that the case was a difficult one which the people of the town could not judge for themselves. So they sent to the surrounding towns to call the wise men from them and the case was tried by them (j) and decided; (k) denotes that the case was one of adultery or No. 20.[16]
Nsibidi is used to design the 'ukara ekpe' woven material which is usually dyed blue (but also green and red) and is covered in Nsibidi symbols and motifs. Ukara ekpe cloths are woven inAbakaliki, and then they are designed by male Nsibidi artists in the Igbo-speaking towns ofAbiriba,Arochukwu andOhafia to be worn by members of the Ekpe society. Symbols including lovers, metal rods, trees, feathers, hands in friendship war and work, masks, moons, and stars are dyed onto ukara cloths. The cloth is dyed by post-menopausal women in secret, and young males in public. Ukara was a symbol of wealth and power only handled by titled men and post-menopausal women.[20]
Ukara can be worn as a wrapper (a piece of clothing) on formal occasions, and larger version are hung in society meeting houses and on formal occasions. Ukara motifs are designed in white and are placed on grids set against an indigo background. Some of the designs include abstract symbols representing the Ekpe society such as repeating triangles representing the leopard's claws and therefore Ekpe's power. Ukara includes naturalistic designs representing objects such as gongs, feathers and manilla currency, a symbol of wealth. Powerful animals are included, specifically the leopard and crocodile.[6]
Nsibidi plays a central role in theNsibidi Script Series of fantasy novels (Akata Witch,Akata Warrior, andAkata Woman) written byNnedi Okorafor.
Nsibidi was the inspiration for theWakandan writing system shown in the 2018 filmBlack Panther.[21] Nsibidi symbols were also featured in its sequel,Wakanda Forever.[22]
Below are some examples of Nsibidi recorded by J. K. Macgregor (1909)[16] and Elphinstone Dayrell (1910 and 1911)[1][23] forThe Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland andMan. Both of them recorded symbols from a variety of locations around the Cross River, and especially the Ikom district in what is nowCross River State. Both of the writers used informants to retrieve Nsibidi that were regarded as secret and visited several Cross River communities.
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Scholars believe that nsibidi originated among the Ejagham, who use it more extensively than any other group in the region. The spread ofnsibidi may have been a result of Ejagham migrations or their practice of selling the secrets of the Ejagham men's Leopard Society (Ngbe) to their neighbors (the Igbo, Efik, Ibibio, Efut, Banyang, and others).
The Ejagham developed a unique form of ideographic writing, signs representing ideas and callednsibidi, signs embodying many powers, including the essence of all that is valiant, just, and ordered ... The late king of Oban in southern Ejagham told me in the summer of 1978 thatnsibidi emerged in the dreams of certain men who thus received its secrets and later 'presented it outside'.
Perhaps it is allowable to mention here that theEkoi claim to have originated this script, of which several hundred characters and a considerable number of complete stories were collected during our stay ... Among the Uyanga also it has unfortunately been impossible to find any trace of the interesting legend alluded to above [that the script originated in this area, as recorded by MacGregor], whereas ... the Ekoi, who certainly have a strong Bantu strain, claim, and with what seems good grounds, to have originated the whole system. At the present day a greater variety of signs seems to exist among the Ekoi of the interior than amid any other tribe.
