The Mumuye people live in northeastern Nigeria between the cities of Jalingo and Zinna, in a region that is bounded by the bend of the Benue river and the Cameroon border. Estimated to number 100,000, the people cultivate sorghum, millet, and yams and are divided into seven subgroups. If their languages present only a few different dialects, their customs and beliefs, on the other hand, are quite distinct. Nevertheless, they acknowledge a common origin and they all grant special importance to the village of Yoro, the residence of the primary master of the rain. Due to the difficulty of access to their lands of rocky hills and savannas, the Mumuye remained in near total isolation until 1959, the date when they were definitively conquered by the English. For a long time, it was believed that, in C. Kjersmeiers words, northern Nigeria was inhabited by almost unknown tribes who had produced nothing that might be described as art. Then, Mumuye statuary was discovered in 1968. One statue that had entered the British Museum at the beginning of the century had been attributed to the Chamba. In 1931, Meek described Mumuye customs in great detail, but focused only on the use of masks in dances of initiation, funeral rituals, harvest celebrations, and in the vabo cult…
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 06:16:16 +0000
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