Wall paintings in Okwu village

Wall paintings in Okwu village painted by an Anang artist in the style of Ngwomo ghost houses.

— Jones

Location: Okwu, Alaigbo | Date: 1930s | Credit: Jones

Rumuji Owu play

[Igbo] Rumuji Owu play with the character of Oterivinwe sitting on a chair. The masquerader is wearing a wooden, beautiful female, white face mask with two horns attached to the top. The neck is coiled and attached to the mask is a print cloth. The masqueradere is wearing white cotton trousers and seed anklets around the ankles. In the background are spectators and vegetation.

Location: Rumuji, Alaigbo? | Date: 1930s | Credit: Jones

Interior of Igbo Mbari house

Interior of Igbo Mbari house. Sculpture in foreground representing adult male riding animal, second adult male standing in front of animal.

Location: ?Unknown?, Alaigbo | Date: ?Unknown? | Credit: Edward Chadwick

A Visit to Ogume in 1937

A Nwammuo [of the Ogume Ika-Igbo (now in Delta State, Nigeria] was a trophy used in a dance or play of the same name. It consisted of groups of little human figures arranged in tiers one above the other. The one I photographed [the photo attached] was two-tiered, with four figures in each tier, and surmounted by two birds, but Ufere was said to have carved Nwammuo with up to four tiers and sixteen figures. I gathered that the principal dancer would carry the trophy on his head and a paddle in his right hand, and that the others (who could be both men and women) would dance in a circle around him. [Nwammuo means ‘ghost-spirit child/offspring’ in Igbo]

A Visit to Ogume in 1937, by G. I. Jones.

Location: Ogume, Ika, Alaigbo | Date: 1930s | Credit: Jones

Rumuji Owu play, the character is Abam (one who has visited placeds and learnt things) and the figure represents a fierce fish spirit. The headpiece is a long horizontal carved piece with a pointed head depiciting sharp incised teeth, round eyes, and fins on the sides and top. The headpiece is painted in different colours. On top of the carving is a square cloth panel (like a sail) that has four pieces of cloth sewn in the centre. The masquerader is draped in block printed cotton cloth. In the background are spectators.

— G.I. Jones

Location: Rumuji, Alaigbo? | Date: 1930s | Credit: Jones

“Horse funeral” ceremony, Amachara village, Afikpo Village-Group, Nigeria (1951-1953).

“Horse funeral” ceremony, Amachara village, Afikpo Village-Group, Nigeria (1951-1953). When a mature male dies his eldest son is responsible for burial and the funeral ceremony. The burial is followed by a series of related rituals, which generally continue to express the relative positions of the descent groups. The first is the ‘goat funeral’. This ceremony is followed by the ritual of placing a shrine pot for the deceased in his ancestral house. At any later time the deceased’s eldest son may perform the ‘cow funeral’, giving his father’s matrikinsmen a cow, and a horse as well if he is rich. The ceremony is optional, and is a prestige ritual to honor the father and display the son’s wealth.”

[Ottenberg, 1968: Double Descent in an African Society; The Afikpo Village-Group, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1968].

Location: Amachara, Ehugbo, Alaigbo? | Date: Early 1950s | Credit: Ottenberg

Interior of Chief’s Compound. I[g]bo.

— P. A. Mc C, 1870-1900.

Location: ?Unknown?, Alaigbo? | Date: 19th Century | Credit: "P. A. Mc C"

24 Feb 1905. Ikot-ekpende. [Aro-Igbo] bride and her mother. [In Ibibio territory where the Aro (originally from Arochukwu from what is now Abia State Nigeria, but settled all over eastern Nigeria) were known as Inokun, now Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria]

— Charles Partridge
Location: Ikot Ekpende | Date: 24 February, 1905 | Credit: Charles Partridge