What is nzu called in yoruba?

The areas in which Northcote Thomas worked as a Government Anthropologist in Nigeria and Sierra Leone have, of course, changed a great deal in the 105 years since the end of his last tour. During 18 months of fieldwork, retracing the itineraries of Thomas, we have, however, also been struck by the many continuities. Despite urbanisation and Christianity, cultural traditions are strong! Take chalk, for example…

Thomas’s reports and fieldnotes on the Edo- and Igbo-speaking communities that he researched between 1909 and 1913 are full of references to the use of chalk in rituals, ceremonies and customs. This chalk is known variously as ‘calabash chalk‘ and ‘kaolin‘. In Igbo it is nzu, in Edo orhue. As Thomas documented, this chalk is used in multiple ways – as an offering to the deities and ancestors, as a medicine, as a symbol of purity, of good fortune and hospitality. It is a sacred substance.

Chalk is used in many ceremonies and rituals, from birth to death. For example, Thomas describes the initiation of boys into the Ovia society in Iyowa, north of Benin City. ‘The boy joins the society’, Thomas writes in an unpublished manuscript, ‘by payment of a calabash of oil, 20 yams, a calabash of palm wine, 4 kola and 5 legs of Uzo . The yams are cooked and fufu is sacrificed to Ovia. The boy marks his face with chalk and is then called Oviovia or the son of Ovia’.

Thomas recorded a number of what he labelled ‘birth songs’ in his travels in what is now the north of Edo State. The Omolotuo Cultural Group interpreted a number of these when we visited Otuo, explaining that they would be sung when the newly born child was presented to the community. To celebrate, both the child and the community members would mark their faces with chalk or arue as it is called in the Otuo dialect. The Omolotuo Cultural Group performed such a song for us, marking their faces accordingly…

During our fieldwork in Okpanam, in present-day Delta State, Obi Victor Nwokobia explained that nzu is part of the paraphernalia associated with royalty, signifying blessing and purity. It is used in the coronation of a new king (obi) and to invoke ancestral blessings on his guests at the palace.

With others in Okpanam, Obi Nwokobia was particularly interested in a series of photographs Northcote Thomas took in 1912 of an individual he identified as ‘Chief Mbweze’. The name, we were told, should be written ‘Mgbeze’, and what the photographs record is his title-taking ceremony. Thomas does not state what title Mgbeze was receiving, though he lists the highest titles a man may attain in Okpanam as being eze and obu.

Obi Nwokobia explained to us the use of nzu in the obi/eze coronation ceremonies. Prior to the conferment of the title, the initiand is rubbed with chalk all over his body. He also wears a white wrapper. The white of the chalk and cloth represents purity and sanctification. The candidate must then spend a period of 28 days in isolation. During this time, the white of the chalk connects the initiand to the ancestors. When the candidate emerges from this period of seclusion, he is considered pure and to have received ancestral validation of his coronation. The newly titled man dances and throws nzu on the people gathered as a mark of blessing on them. It is a moment that Thomas captured in his series of photographs of Mgbeze’s title-taking. These same practices are used in the coronation of an obi today.

Among the hundreds of photographic portraits of individuals made by Thomas can be found many in which people have chalk smeared around one or both eyes. This could signify various things. The high female office of Omu, for example, was entitled to wear chalk around both eyes, as can be seen in Thomas’s photograph of the Omu of Okpanam (see centre photograph below).

Thomas notes that native doctors (dibia) were also entitled to wear chalk around either one or both eyes, depending on their seniority. The same was true of priests. Chalk around the eyes signifies an ability to see beyond the visible world and into the world of the spirits. Chalk is still used in this way among traditional doctors, diviners and priests, as we have often encountered during our travels in Thomas’s footsteps. They are sometimes called dibia anya nzu, meaning ‘native doctor with the eye of chalk’.

When we met Paul Okafor, chief priest of the Nge-Ndo Ngene shrine in Nibo, Anambra State, he wore chalk on his forehead and left eyelid. He explained that the mark on his forehead granted him access into the spirit world, while that on his eyelid allowed him to see into the spirit world so as to be able to solve his clients’ problems. Okafor further explained that he must wash the nzu off before going to bed, or else he would not be able to sleep, but rather continue to commune with the spirits until the next morning.

According to Nwandu, a dibia we met at Ebenebe, he uses nzu as a medium to communicate with the ancestors. He also applies nzu to part of his eyelid to be able to see the spirit world, and he demonstrated for us how he draws chalk lines on the ground when performing spiritual consultations – igba afa – for his clients.

In the fourth part of his Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking People of Nigeria (1914), concerning the ‘laws and customs’ of the Western Igbo or Anioma people, Thomas provides an interesting account of the Nkpetime or Mkpitime cult. Mkpitime is the name of a female deity associated with a small lake close to Onitsha Olona, now Delta State, which Thomas visited in October 1912. Thomas evidently spent time with the orhene or priest of Mkpitime, a man named Mokweni, whom he also photographed. His visit coincided with the annual Iwaji (New Yam Festival).

During the festival, the orhene is said to ‘go into nzu (chalk)’. This is a period of seclusion during which no one is allowed to make a noise, quarrel or fire a gun. Three days after going ‘into nzu‘, the orhene is supposed to make offerings at Lake Mkpitime and swim in its waters. On the fourth day, the orhene comes out of seclusion, accompanied by drumming and dancing before the mmanwu (spirits manifest as masquerades). Thomas describes how a woman created figures on the earth of the dancing ground using chalk, but also charcoal, red mud and ashes. Thomas notes that this is called obwo obodo – translating as ‘circle of dance’. The motifs represent various ‘totemic’ animals and other aspects of local cosmology, including a leopard, ‘tiger cat’, pangolin, monkey, viper, cross-roads, mirror, the sun, moon and Mkpitime herself. According to Thomas, domestic animals such as goats, ducks and fowls must not step on the figures. However, they are soon obliterated by the dancing feet of the celebrants.

Chalk is associated with many deities throughout Southern Nigeria, including Ovia, Ngene and Mkpitime, mentioned above, but also Olokun, Ake, Imoka and others. Artist-educator, Norma Rosen, has written about chalk iconography in Olokun worship, for example, and some of the designs she discusses are not dissimilar to those Thomas photographed in Onitsha Olona. In an article Rosen wrote with the art historian Joseph Nevadomsky, the scene is described in which this ‘elaborately drawn chalk iconography’ is similarly ‘obliterated by dancing feet’, sending ‘vaporous messages fly back and forth … between the other world and earth’.

We witnessed something similar – and, indeed, participated in the dancing – when we visited the Ake shrine at Idumowina, on the outskirts of Benin City. We had created an album of Thomas’s photographs, which documented the shrine in 1909, and presented copies to the community and the Ake priest. A special ceremony was held in which the album was presented to the deity. As can be seen in the photograph above, adjacent to the altar was a pile of molded chalk blocks and a dish of powdered chalk. The powdered chalk was sprinkled on the altar on which the album was placed, and was used to create patterns on the ground, which were subsequently erased by our dancing.

In his fieldnotes about the Ake Festival that he documented at at Idumowina in 1909, Thomas describes how women would come to the shrine asking the deity to bless them with children, and also to thank the deity if they had recently given birth. (Ake, like Olokun, is a deity associated with fertility.) He records that children were given chalk to eat.

Indeed, chalk is traditionally ingested by pregnant women and as a medicine for various complaints. We have eaten nzu, too, during our fieldwork, after seeking blessings at the Imoka shrine, during the Imoka Festival in Awka.

In some areas of Igboland, nzu is used instead of or alongside kola-nut in traditional hospitality ceremonies. The most senior man or traditional priest will draw or sprinkle lines of chalk on the ground while uttering a prayer. The number of lines drawn is often four, corresponding to the four deities or market days of the week – eke, oye, afo and nkwo. The prayer is addressed to Chukwu (the supreme God), lesser deities and the ancestors, asking for long life, wealth, peace and fairness. At the end of each prayer, those present will respond by saying Ise!

After the prayer, the chalk will be rolled across the ground from the feet of one person to the next in order of seniority (and social/geographical proximity to the host). It is important that the chalk is not passed hand to hand. Each will then make a mark on the ground before him, again often four lines. Ozo title holders are entitled to mark eight lines. Before rolling the nzu to the next person, each will take a small piece of chalk and mark one of their feet, or an eyelid and put a little in their mouth.

Nzu, or calabash chalk is an edible clay that is found mainly in Nigeria and other West African countries. The common name is calabash chalk. However, in Nigeria, most people call it nzu in Igbo. It is also called ndom in Efik/Ibibio and eko in Bini/Edo language.

Although nzu is predominantly eaten by pregnant women as a cure for nausea. Many other people consume it for eating pleasure. This act is known as geophagia (eating of chalk, clay or soil).

Calabash chalk is also consumed outside Nigeria and Africa. You can find it in ethnic stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Since calabash chalk is so widely consumed, it would be vital that you get to know more about it, especially the health and medical aspect of it.

This in-depth article will discuss the composition of Nzu (calabash chalk), the health benefits of Nzu, and the side effects of Nzu.

You will also find out the answers to questions like, why Pregnant women consume nzu? Is nzu good during pregnancy And can nzu cause miscarriage?

The major component of calabash chalk is aluminum silicate hydroxide. It also contains an excessive amount of lead. In fact, the amount of lead in food should not exceed 1 mg/kg, but the amount of lead present in calabash chalk has been reported to be between 10–50 mg/kg.

Other substances present in calabash chalk include Aluminum, organic pollutants, silicon, iron, alpha lindane, chromium, arsenic endrin, and endosulfan 11.

Pregnancy usually comes with nausea and vomiting, so taking calabash chalk helps them to prevent morning sickness and nausea.

Spitting is also very common during pregnancy. Many pregnant women have claimed that eating calabash chalk helped them to stop spitting.

Most pregnant women are lack iron and are anemic. Several studies have shown that people who have a craving for clay are anemic. Since clay is rich in iron, the craving for clay is a way the body is trying to make up for the iron deficiency.

Although, most people might like to take Nzu for pleasure, some people have a craving for it. Those people have an eating disorder called pica syndrome.

Pica syndrome is that persistent act of eating substances that are not food. Geophagia (eating of soil) is a type of pica syndrome.

Most times, pica syndrome is caused by a deficiency in iron, zinc, or calcium in the body. In pregnant women, anemia, or iron deficiency, may be the reason why pregnant women crave Nzu.

Honestly, there is little information about the health benefits of Nzu (calabash chalk). However, the only two medically proven health benefits of calabash chalk are:

Nzu or calabash chalk can definitely reduce morning sickness, especially in pregnant women. The taste of the chalk stops nausea.

However, note this. Normal morning sickness causes no harm to a pregnant woman or her baby. Although, Nzu can relieve you of morning sickness, they are other ways to treat morning sickness during pregnancy.

Medical research have suggested that when you crave for calabash chalk, it may mean that your are lacking iron and calcium in your body. Most women usually lack those nutrients during pregnancy. Hence, Nzu health benefits could be to provide such nutrients to the body.

Now, pay attention to this, iron or calcium deficiency is not a medical emergency. It could be bad for health in the long run, but they are many other ways to get calcium and iron if you are deficient. Scientific studies, have shown that calabash chalk on the whole is not a significant source of mineral nutrients.

Studies may suggest that Nzu may help in detoxifying the body of harmful toxins. It is claimed that they prevent toxins from being absorbed by the body. Hollywood actress, Shailene Woodley backed up those claims backed up those claims, by saying that she learnt about eating clay from an African taxi driver, and that it has helped her health.

Dr. David L. Katz, a nutritionIist and founder of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University, also stated in an interview with ABC News interview with ABC News that clay has detoxifying properties. He said that it is possible that the binding effect of clay would cause it to absorb toxins.

When geophagic materials like calabash chalk are consumed and enter the digestive system, they can cause harmful effects to the individual.

Numerous reports regarding the health risks of consuming calabash also claim that it affects the blood. It alters the normal concentration of hemoglobin, red blood cell counts and erythrocyte sedimentation rate in the body.

A medical study by Dr. Moses B. Ekong of the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Uyo, Uyo Nigeria and his team of researchers showed that the consumption of calabash chalk might affect bone and growth development.

They investigated the effect of the calabash chalk on bone mineralization and other morphological changes in experimental Wistar rats. They found out that calabash chalk can alter growth rate, and cause de-mineralization in the bone, thus making it damaging to bone growth. Although this experiment, was carried out on rats, it is suggested that would also be harmful to humans.

Many other medical reports have suggested that calabash chalk consumption also causes several gastrointestinal disorders like nausea, ulcers and gastritis.

Calabash chalk caused a lot of histomorphological changes that to the stomach and oesophagus, and that may lead to other pathophysiological conditions.

Don’t forget that calabash chalk contains a huge amount of lead. Excessive lead intake has been linked to gastritis, nausea, ulcers vomiting, and constipation.

Increased lead intake during pregnancy can also affect the babies. It could cause neurological damage to children, reduced IQ and an increased risk of cognitive under development.

South African health journal, Health-e spoke to several women who ate clay about their habit. They found out that, for many, the desire to eat soil can be a form of stressful addiction.

Many woman reported that they started eating soil as teenagers, others started during pregnancy. Some women are so much addicted to eating clay that they are not able to stop because they feel their food is not complete without clay in it. Thus, the addiction is could be a bad habit and result in the dangers of eating nzu which was mentioned above.

It is possible. A medical study by Jonah Sydney Aprioku and Ezinne Margaret Ogwo-Ude on the toxicity of calabash chalk (Nzu) in pregnant Wistar Rats might have suggested so.

In their experiment, 24 pregnant albino wistar rats were divided into 3 groups, 8 each. Thereafter, one group was orally administered 400mg/kg of calabash chalk, another group was given 800 mg/kg of Calabash chalk, the last group were not given (control group). They were given calabash chalk throughout the 20 days of their gestation.

In their results, most of the rats that were given calabash chalk had miscarriage, abortion and stillbirths. They concluded that Calabash chalk or Nzu is not good for maternal health and pregnancy.

If you ask, is eating Nzu bad for me?, then the answers you will get is yes, it might be. From this article, you have learnt about the benefits of Nzu and the dangers of eating Nzu.

You should know that all the benefits of eating Nzu, can be gotten by talking to your doctor. In fact, Dr. Mba Sunday, an Obstetrician and Gynecologist at the Enugu State University Teaching hospital advised that pregnant women should consult their doctor, since craving for Nzu is a condition called pica syndrome. If the doctor determines that you are lacking minerals and nutrients, he will suggest that you take supplements or foods which will replenish it.

Please share this informative article and comment below, we want to read them.

Reference:

Moses, E.B.; et al. (2012). “Effect of Calabash Chalk on the Histomorphology of the Gastro-Oesophageal Tract of Growing Wistar Rats”. The Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences. 19 (1): 30–35.

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Calabash clay (Nzu) is a natural product, locally prepared from clay, sand and. Popularly called Nzu in Nigeria, Calabash chalk is known as La Craie or Argile in French, and Mabele in Congo. The Igbo people of Nigeria call 'nzu' what is commonly identified as calabash chalk. The Igbos also believe Nzu denotes wisdom. Eating soil - nzu or ulo, has always been something some people just do in Nigeria, whether pregnant or not.