22/08/2024
Europeans demonized everything about African our tribal markings and piercings making it look ugly and an un-civilize practice. It's in our DNA to subconsciously practice some of our Ancestors rituals. Black people around the world are piercing their bodily parts including tongue, lips, navel, cl****is, p***s, breast, eyebrows and inserting it with various rings as a sign of high class culture. Africans mark their body for various valid historical, cultural, medical, religious and aesthetic reasons. It's unfortunate that European propaganda that demonize African practices are embedded in the minds of those who have no idea about Africa bought into this cultural imperialist propaganda against tribal marks and other marks on the body of an African. In the ways of our African Ancestors when a child is born, the proud father will want the child to be given tribal marks as a way of expressing that he is the legitimate father of the child as well as a way of identifying the child in their family lineage or ethnic group. It is believed that the best way of identifying people of same ethnic group is the similarity of their marks and in that case, they protect their interest. Tribal marks which can also be described as facial marks though well dominated in Africa, can be traced to some foreigners who were living in Egypt in the 5th century BC. During that time, a Greek historian, Herodotus wrote about some foreigners living in Egypt who cut their foreheads with knives to differentiate themselves from the Egyptians. This practice was further adopted years later when several kings of various kingdoms in Africa, started invading other kings and their people for land and other resources. The invaders therefore mark themselves as well as their family members to differentiate themselves from the captured kings and their family members whom they now regard as their slaves. Tribal markings is a way of identification passed down from family to family, members of the same village, identification of royal lineage and people from the same lineage. But different sets of people have similar tribal marks that differentiate them from people from a different lineage or village. Since tribal marks are used mainly to differentiate ethnic groups, they vary. There are marks are on the cheeks, forehead, on the temple, under the chin and so on. There are vertical lines, horizontal, both vertical and horizontal, slanted lines on both cheeks. These marks are in patterns based on the ethnic group of their bearer and have different meanings and different names. The Yorubas for example, have different pattern of marks and names for them like ture, bamu, keke, gombo, abaja, pele etc. The Hausas also have names for tribal marks like zube, yan baka, doddori, bille and so on. The well known Fulani marking is the kalangu. Tribal marks are not well associated with the Igbos, only a very few of them have marks which in most cases are on their temple. Hausa tribal mark In northern and upper west region of Ghana many individuals living there migrated from the Burkina Faso and retain their specific marks Bakarewie. Making also allow groups living within close proximity to one another to able to differentiate between themselves, as there are often unwritten rules that forbids those of the same clans or tribes to inter marry one another. Though, markings are done on the face mostly for the purpose of ethnic identification, not all marks on the face are for the purpose of identifying an individual as belonging to a particular ethnic group. There are other reasons for facial markings some are associated with spiritual or religious practices. In some Yoruba settings, children born as still birth or a "reincarnated child" which is called abiku, a child believed to have been born twice or thrice are given marks on their face and body for several reasons. It is believed that to take away the spiritual powers of the child, he has to be identified by the marks when he/she is given birth to again and to stop the death of the child at a tender age. It can also be used to wade away evil spirits ravaging around a certain group of people or family. In this case, the marks are not only on the face but other parts of the body as well. In Ghana among most tribes reincarnated child mark known in Yoruba abiku are referred to as "Kosanma" and the marks on the face are known as "Kosanma" or "Donko" marks. The belief for making these marks are the same as in Yoruba belief explained above. Most tribes in Africa give marks to their people for spiritual protection against evil spirit, another person who want to do them harm or bad luck in their life. Among Ghanaians and other Africans fe**sh priests, Shamans or herbalists are the ones who prescribe these marks. They cut the body and powerful herbs with spiritual potency are inserted in to heal with the body for the future protection against evil. The cuts are made on the hips,wrists,stomach or shoulders. Apart from spiritual and religious purposes, facial marks are given to certain people for the treatment of illness especially children. In this case, traditional healers do incisions on the children's face or body to treat them for ailments like convulsion, pneumonia and measles. The medical marks can be made on any part of the body where the ailment afflicts that person. These marks are usually very small and some are very difficult to spot.The more you read the more you realize you know nothing. Keep on learning to know new things everyday..🇬🇭🇬🇭.
