EARTH AMONG THE OWERRI IGBO Earth, Ala, is the dominant all-purpose deity3 for the Owerri Igbo. For more than a hundred years she has been the recipient of extraordinary structures called mbari houses, which are major community sacrifi ces to this goddess. Ala is an older woman, a mother with one or two children (fi g. 4). Other fi gures are half her size or smaller. Earth is the mother of all gods and all growing things, including humans. She is the literal ground of being for the Owerri people as the source of fertility, morality, tradition, and, therefore, culture.4 She is at once nature and culture, which in her are joined and simultaneous. The deifi ed Earth is sometimes thought of in conjunction with her fertilizing sky world male partner, Amadioha, god of thunder, lightning, and rain, but he is of lesser import in art and thought. Mbari images of Ala are modeled in sacred clay taken by initiates5 from termite mounds, then mashed in mortars to become the consistency of pounded yam, the staple prestige food (fi g. 7). Twice processed, by termites and by women as if preparing food, this unusual clay is called fufu— the same term used for balls of pounded yam readied for eating. Mbari spirit workers say they are going to the “yam farm” when they leave to collect spirit-infused termite hill clay. The fact that a queen termite hatches as many as thirteen million eggs per year is not insignifi cant. Earth’s essence—sacred, fertile, generative, nurturing, law-giving—as interpreted in Igbo thought and action is nature and, at the same time, culture. An mbari house was built infrequently to avert disaster brought on by human or natural causes and as a major sacrifi ce to Earth as the most prominent deity.6 Specially selected men and women were initiated into the ritualized process for a year or longer for large mbari constructed in the 1930s. Professional artists modeled mbari inhabitants, along with people and scenes of everyday life. As many as fi fty to one hundred fi fty images were included (fi g. 6). All of the fi gures and the mbari building itself were painted by the spirit workers. Often a sun, moon, and rainbow were seen on the upper walls (fi g. 5). In honor of Mother Earth, the community and indeed the world were renewed in Earth and “yam.” The biological imperatives of childbirth 112 and subsistence are focused in the sculptured Ala with her children, as well as in the process of symbolically rebuilding her community, its farms, and the world. BAMANA GWAN FIGURES The dualistic concepts of badenya and fadenya exemplify the richness of Bamana of Mali thought associated with Jo societies and related Gwan female and male fi gures. They indicate again that female principles typically have balancing, complementary male-oriented ideas. The emphasis here on female fi gures and maternal roles thus should not wholly eclipse those of males, obviously essential to human and agricultural productivity, which is the main concern of Gwan association rituals and sculptures. Great wisdom and spiritual force are embodied in the maternity fi gure and the male with weapons, both central in Gwan cult ensembles, as signifi ed by amulets and weapons worn or carried, as well as by their large size and stately poses (fi gs. 8 and 9). More vital, however, are the ritual processes and medicines that empower such statuary.7 Notably, the trees from which blacksmith-sculptors carved many such powerful images grew out of termite mounds, and both trees and mounds embody fertile spiritual energy, nyama.8 Badenya, the Bamana concept of “mother-childness,” links with centripetal social forces of stability, unity, and cooperation, that is, those traits that pull a person back into the group, effectively toward the hearth and mother. Fadenya, “father-childness,” is centrifugal, allied with individuality, competition, self-promotion, and heroics—traits that spin a person outside his social fi eld.9 Both genders have components of each quality, and both are essential for human prosperity. But women, who desire above all to be mothers, are anchored in badenya. They can go forth to make their mark or help others become innovators or heroes—fadenya traits— but it is traditionally more necessary for males to do so. As Kate Ezra stated, “For Bamana women, children are a source of pride, selffulfi llment, and status in the community; their absence brings anxiety, shame, and often a diminished role in the family and village. … Children are a woman’s most valued possession FEATURE
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