An Igbo elder of Öka (Awka) wearing an okpu agha, or "war hat" as noted here by Northcote Thomas, 1910-11. Northcote Thomas' album, MAA Cambridge.
As a defence against ... weapons the Ibo had devised fibre 'crash' helmets or okpu agha. Those ... are entirely plaited out of the coarse fibre in the stems of Colocasia antiquorum. Dalziel remarks: 'The Ibos use caps or helmets and a kind of armour woven from the fibre got from the petioles.'
– M. D. W. Jeffreys (1956). "Ibo Warfare." Man, Vol. 56 (June, 1956). p. 78.
No comments:
Post a Comment