The Igbo people are a tribe of people who live in southeastern Nigeria.They speak the Igbo language which is a part of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. The Igbo people are known for being subsistence farmers, farming yams, taro, cassava, maize, okra, beans, pumpkins, and melons. Yams are the Igbo’s main food, Men are responsible for the cultivation of yams. Traditionally the Igbo people live in spread out compounds. Before colonization, the Igbo were not united but live in different village communities. The area that the Igbo people are form is mostly rain forest. In 1967, the Igbo tried to secede from Nigeria and become an independent nation.(Britanica) The Igbo people have many traditions therefore they have many
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The art of Igbo masking spans hundreds of years. The people that wear the masks are referred to as mmanwu. Mmanwu preform rituals and rites of passage, up until the 1900’s mmanwu were very important to judicial and and policing roles in the Igbo villages. “Mmanwu disguise their voices, utter strange noises, sing, recite proverbs, use whistles, or remain silent. Unmasked attendants frequently accompany maskers, adding to their powerful presence.” (Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology) Masks are a very big part of Igbo culture, they are strongly linked with traditional music. (Museum of Fine Arts Boston) The Igbo have many masked performances in a year, to honor ancestors, insure bountiful crops, teach moral lessons, and entertain audiences at festivals, social satires, religious rituals, secret society initiations, and public festivals. Ancestors are commemorated in Igbo culture, and mmanwu play ancestral spirits during performances. In the performances elements such as good and evil, male and female, and beauty and ugliness, are portrayed in masks. (Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology) Christmas is now considered a public festival to the Igbo people, since the coming of the British in 1861. “Masking forms were often exchanged and assimilated among the Igbo, Idoma mask identities also sometimes vacillated from village to village, the roles changing with each performance. [1] This originally white-faced mask is notable for its near-perfect …show more content…
The Igbo people started to cast metal in the ninth century, before many other parts of Nigeria. They are the first African tribe to use the lost-wax casting technique. The lost-wax technique involves making and object out of wax, surrounding the wax with clay to make a mold, firing the clay, and melting out the wax, then having a mold to cast the bronze in. The Igbos were the first people to work with copper in West Africa, the Igbos did not know about raising, soldering, riveting, and wire making. They used techniques such as hammering, bending, twisting, and incising. Three places in Igboland have been excavated, revealing hundreds of ritual and decorative castings of bronze or leaded bronze that are among the most inventive and technically accomplished bronzes ever made. There have also been other bronze castings found such as pendants, crowns, breastplates, staff ornaments, swords, and fly-whisk handles. (Alpey) [4] “The bowl and stand were made separately and then joined together by casting the band of spirals and insects. Such sophisticated techniques and almost flawless results demonstrate the skill of the artists.”
The art of Igbo masking spans hundreds of years. The people that wear the masks are referred to as mmanwu. Mmanwu preform rituals and rites of passage, up until the 1900’s mmanwu were very important to judicial and and policing roles in the Igbo villages. “Mmanwu disguise their voices, utter strange noises, sing, recite proverbs, use whistles, or remain silent. Unmasked attendants frequently accompany maskers, adding to their powerful presence.” (Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology) Masks are a very big part of Igbo culture, they are strongly linked with traditional music. (Museum of Fine Arts Boston) The Igbo have many masked performances in a year, to honor ancestors, insure bountiful crops, teach moral lessons, and entertain audiences at festivals, social satires, religious rituals, secret society initiations, and public festivals. Ancestors are commemorated in Igbo culture, and mmanwu play ancestral spirits during performances. In the performances elements such as good and evil, male and female, and beauty and ugliness, are portrayed in masks. (Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology) Christmas is now considered a public festival to the Igbo people, since the coming of the British in 1861. “Masking forms were often exchanged and assimilated among the Igbo, Idoma mask identities also sometimes vacillated from village to village, the roles changing with each performance. [1] This originally white-faced mask is notable for its near-perfect …show more content…
The Igbo people started to cast metal in the ninth century, before many other parts of Nigeria. They are the first African tribe to use the lost-wax casting technique. The lost-wax technique involves making and object out of wax, surrounding the wax with clay to make a mold, firing the clay, and melting out the wax, then having a mold to cast the bronze in. The Igbos were the first people to work with copper in West Africa, the Igbos did not know about raising, soldering, riveting, and wire making. They used techniques such as hammering, bending, twisting, and incising. Three places in Igboland have been excavated, revealing hundreds of ritual and decorative castings of bronze or leaded bronze that are among the most inventive and technically accomplished bronzes ever made. There have also been other bronze castings found such as pendants, crowns, breastplates, staff ornaments, swords, and fly-whisk handles. (Alpey) [4] “The bowl and stand were made separately and then joined together by casting the band of spirals and insects. Such sophisticated techniques and almost flawless results demonstrate the skill of the artists.”