Aja Ǹgwùlù

Igbo compound (ǹgwùlù) entrance and high walls (aja ǹgwùlù), in or near Önïcha. Photographed by Herbert Wimberley, c. 1903-18. Cambridge University Library.

Ụ̀dị ndị 'ọ̀ ka ibè ya' (I pass my neighbour).

Ọ̀kọ̀nkọ̀ Tolls

An Ekpe masquerader in Uzuakoli, present-day Abia State. Photographed by G. I. Jones, 1930s. MAA Cambridge.

Ọ̀kọ̀nkọ̀ members controlled important roads in the eastern Igbo area. British imperial interests ran against this system.

Passing by Abruki, which had, however, to be " dashed " in the usual way, we arrived in the evening at Omo-pra [Ụmụ̀ọpara?], the last mile or two into the town being more like an avenue in England, shaded by splendid trees, than a wild roadway in Africa. […] Under a lowering sky, and in a, slight drizzle of rain, we left Omo-pra early the next morning[.]

Igbo compound walls

An Igbo compound entrance, in or near Önïcha. Photographed by Herbert Wimberley, c. 1903-18. Cambridge University Library.

The ancestral compound is usually handed down from father to first son, and other lands are shared by other sons, usually making concessions for daughters. There were compounds that were headed by women, especially in the case of wealthy women who married other women into their umunna (patriline), and there are Igbo communities such as Ohafia where agricultural land rights are traced matrilineally.

Àbọ House

"Eboe House", a drawing on the map of the Niger River by the Lander Brothers while on their expedition of the Niger River in 1830. via archive.org.

The little we could see of the houses with which the shore is interspersed gave us a very favourable impression of the judgment and cleanliness of the inhabitants of the town. They are neatly built of yellow clay, plastered over, and thatched with palm-leaves; yards sprucely fenced are annexed to each of them, in which plantains, bananas, and cocoa-trees grow, exhibiting a pleasing sight, and affording a delightful shade.

– The Lander Brothers, 1832. From Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger. Vol. II, p. 210.

Igbo Compound Tower

"An [Igbo] chief’s compound, with war-tower and inner wall; natives listening to phonograph; Azia, Onitsha district." A. E. Kitson, published 1913.

Each house stood in a compound surrounded by a high mud wall. There were small loop holes in the walls at equal distances, through which a gun could be fired in the event of an enemy attacking the town. In each compound also there was generally at least one high tree with a platform in its branches, from which a good lookout could be obtained. We noticed also two large, square watch-towers, three times the height of ordinary houses.

– T. J. Dennis (1899). Itineration in the Ibo Country. p. 780.

Igbo Landscaping and Architecture

A building photographed in the western Igbo area, filed under Onicha Olona by the MAA Cambridge, but may be another surrounding Igbo town. The trees and shrubs appear to have been planted in an order. Photographed by Northcote Thomas and assistants, c. 1912-13.

Near Nnewi

Entrance gate and walls with relief of a farmer's compound at Nnewi (noted as "Entrance to a compound of IGBO farmer's house near NEWI"), northern Igbo area, c. 1938. Photo: Edward Duckworth. Pitt Rivers Museum.

Bende Ekpe Club House

Interior of an Ekpe society house in Bende photographed by P. Talbot around or before the mid-1920s.

Ọ̀gwa - Igbo shrine hall

An ọ̀gwa, an ancestral meeting and reception shrine hall of household patriarchs photographed by P. Talbot around or before the mid-1920s in reference to Ogwashi Ukwu. Ogwa Nshi Ukwu means the great ọ̀gwa of founding Nri-Igbo migrants.

Owere Creation Story

Photo: Mbari votive shrine in Percy Amaury Talbot (1926). "The peoples of Southern Nigeria." Vol. II, fig.13. via the Musée du quai Branly.

Creation of the days from the Owere (Owerri) area:

Chineke created four people [...] and put those four people inside the house in four rooms. Eke, Orie, Afo, Nkwo. These are men, and he also put women in a separate room. Then Eke suggested it would be a good idea for Ala to exist. The land just came out, and existed before we met it. The land and the sky are the same. [...] No one gave birth to them. Then Chineke called in all the gods and fixed a time for creating the days. Chineke asked, "Which of you knows the days?" Agwushi [god of divination] said he knew. "This is Eke, the next is Orie, then Afo, then Nkwo. These are the four days of the world." Chineke took Agwushi and gave him to all [...] to feed them....Then Chineke told Agwushi to go to man and leave part of himself [...] [Eke, Orie, Afo, Nkwo], and also to [...] every god—Amadioha, Ala, and all the others.

– The artist Ugo via Herbert Cole (1982). Mbari.

According to this record of a creation story from the Owere (Owerri) area, the days are four men put into four rooms, but there's also mention of women, although their number and relation to the men isn't substantiated, it's plausible that they are also four. Could the Izù ukwu, the eight day week, be a pair of four male and four female primordial entities making eight in total?

Also, it's interesting how the name for week or group of the days is ízù, when the entities are said to congregate in various Igbo creation stories, like ìzù, a meeting or council. Even the nsibidi signs for the four (or eight) directions is similar to the nsibidi sign for meeting or congregation, which is also similar or the same as the four and eight rods.

Two-storey building

Another Igbo tower or two-storey earth building photographed by Northcote Thomas. Öka (Awka), c. 1910-11. MAA Cambridge.

Chi nà Ekè

Interior of Chi shrine at Nkarahia, an Isiokpo Ikwere settlement. Photo: P. Amaury Talbot, early 1910s.

An interview of an Urata man about the High God:

“Chineke molded the world; then Eke divided the world. Eke came out of the hands of Chi, so they became the same. They are the same mother. It is like the creation of the world: the world is one. That is the way Eke came out of the hands of Chineke. But they are the same.

If it were only for the hands of Chineke no one would die a violent death. It is Eke who divided the world and after that people died in power [probably transliterated from ‘ọ́nwụ́ íké’, literally meaning "powerful death”, but metaphorically a painful suffering death]. Eke is the tricky one who portioned out these things. Chineke is straight and long, and he [no gendered pro-nouns in Igbo] made the lives of the people upright and good. Eke played this trick we are now inside.“ [in notes: (Parts of creation stories related by the cult priest of Afo at Umuoye Etche)] [Igbo group in southern Imo, northern Rivers states of Nigeria].

[Cole:]

Chineke (or Chukwu) [in notes: (In many parts of Igboland, as in Owerri, the high god is also called Chukwu, an ellision of chi and ukwu ("great”), but in Owerri Chineke is the more common usage.)] is the creator, the high god. Though distant and not the object of images or direct sacrifices in Owerri, he is often addressed by name in prayer and does receive offerings indirectly. He knows what people are doing but does not himself intervene or punish. The etymology of his name suggests that he is both a deity and a concept, for “Chineke” is a contraction of chi, na (“and”), eke: chi apparently meaning “god” or “soul”, with eke approximating “creation” or “division”. Chi and eke are also personifications, as suggested by the quotations above and the words of another informant: “Chi and Eke represent male and female. Chineke—I don’t know if he is a man or a woman. He is up, up, up, and we don’t see him.”

– Herbert M. Cole. MBARI: Art and Life among the Owerri Igbo (1982). p. 54. Indiana University Press.

Ögbü Compound [Colourised]

Ögbü compound and tower, Anambra State today, photographed by Northcote Thomas, May 1911, colourised, Ụ́kpụ́rụ́ 2018.

... (and two (possibly lazy) compound dogs.)

... (kpaaa~.)

Mbari

Urata-Igbo Mbari votive shrine. The buildings are built in honour of particular deities, most often Ala the Earth Mother, in what is now Imo State and Rivers State. The actual site is not used as a place of worship. Photo: Edward Chadwick, 1927-1943. British Museum.

"Mbari Njokku"

An Mbari house at "Omo Dim" [Umudim?] which is known as "Mbari Njokku" according to P. A. Talbot who says it was built in honour of an elder named "Njokku and his wife Mbafor." P. A. Talbot (1927). "Some Nigerian Fertility Cults."

Öka Smiths among the Western Igbo and Others

In Onicha Olona, a western Igbo town, two individuals in the courtyard of a house with what seems to be blacksmithing tools (tongs and hammers). Photographed by Northcote Thomas, 1912. MAA Cambridge.

Awka, ... is famous for its smithing skills. ... In fact, the men of one section of the town, Agulu, were Awka's principal blacksmiths. ... As itinerant journeymen, Agulu smiths ... [worked] in northern provinces of Igala and Idoma and over a broad belt of southern Nigeria, from Yoruba settlements in the west to the Cross River in the east. The orbit of Awka (Agulu) peregrinations was vast, limited only by the existence of rival smithing groups, such as the Hausa to the north of the Benue, and by the necessity to return to Awka annually. ...

Smiths of three Agulu villages worked the western side of the Niger, supplying iron hoes, machetes, spears, cooking stands and other useful items to Western Igbo, Urhobo, Isoko, Itsekiri and Ijo communities. They also used the lost-wax method in making bronze ofo for Western Igbo patrons.

– Nancy C. Neaher (1976). "Igbo Metalsmiths among the Southern Edo."

Mbari Chi Chamber

Illustration of the sacred 'forbidden' inner chamber of an Mbari house in the Urata-Echie Igbo area (Imo and Rivers today) by P. A. Talbot in "Some Nigerian Fertility Cults," 1927. The chamber, which holds the chi of the Mbari's main deity, is guarded by two female divinities.

Igbo Bridge

A bridge somewhere in the Igbo country, photographed by Gustaf Bolinder, 1930-31. Etnografiska Museet.

Ögbü Compound

Ögbü (Awgbu), p.d. Anambra State, what was described as a store house by Northcote Thomas, tower in the background, May 1911. Part of Thomas’ British colonial government backed anthropological tour of the north-central Igbo-speaking area.

Azu Anya Mmuo

Photo by Northcote Thomas in Öka (Awka), 1910-11. MAA Cambridge.

Azụ anya mmụọ, the 'eyes of the spirits,' a wooden openwork panel that stays in the shrine area in front of an obi in the north-central Igbo area. The panels represent the presence and protection of ancestral forces. They can be seen outside from the front of an obi facing the compound entrance from which the spirits protect against and ward off any encroaching evil. In turn, the spirits on the altar in front of the azụ anya mmụọ gain access to the outside world through the holes in the panels.

The rest of the buildings and the walls of the compound elaborate on the designs of the obi. In front of the azụ anya mmụọ, in the interior of obi, lay religious objects such as ọfọ, okpesi ancestral memorial statues, Ikenga, title-staffs of ancestors such as ngwụ agịlịga and alọ, and carefully packaged horse skulls and other sacrificed animals, these animals may also include those specially sacrificed by an ancestor, for instance, in a title-taking ceremony.

The obi as the main abode and meeting place of the patriarch of the compound is the site of the main ancestral shrine, the handling of such shrines throughout the Igbo area, regardless of the presence or absence of azụ anya mmụọ, is the exclusive right of patriarchs whose fathers have passed away and are therefore in the spiritual world, before then a son usually relies on a patriarch who is the direct son, and subsequently the closest male descendant to the ancestors, to handle ancestral work.