Omugwo: An Igbo Mother’s Rite of Passage
Motherhood is a spiritual experience within many cultures. Its beginnings are often ritualized to signify identity transformation. This is true in African religious traditions, in which spirituality lies at the heart of all existence. For Africans, spirituality is a way to live, a relational activity between seen and unseen entities. In many African cultures, both “thought and action are rooted in spirituality.” Thus, those moments which evoke a significant shift, such as the transition from nulliparity to motherhood, call for rituals that symbolize the experience. Spiritual rites of passage mark both time and change for African peoples, from birth through death. These processes are always interconnected, with death leading to birth and birth leading back to death. Thus, African mothers give birth to both life and death, witnessing the metamorphosis in between as they watch their children move throughout the life cycle. Attuned to the breadth of existence, motherhood is a sacred encounter, marked as such by many African rites and traditions. Here, I will investigate the power of African motherhood rites through the Igbo practice of Omugwo. Omugwo serves as a rite of passage which transforms woman to mother through the experience of social liminality, connection to both seen and unseen elements, and ultimately, the formation of new social bonds.
While spirituality is central to all African reality, rituals are reserved for moments of transformation. Within African religious traditions, rituals “embody…sacred values.” Through rites and ceremonies, Africans make meaning of death, marriage, the passing of time, and life transitions. Life transitions are enacted through rites of passage. Such rites, including puberty rites, death rites, naming rituals, and birth rites mark the transition from one social status to another. They help to sustain the predetermined social order by establishing new community connections, and often signify transformation within relationship. Rites of passage center this relationship, not only to other humans, but also to the divine realm, always aiming to maintain careful harmony between seen and unseen realities. Most rituals, including rites of passage, engage some elements of nature, the human, and the unseen or divine realm. According to religious studies scholar, Benjamin Ray, these ritual processes typically involve a period of separation, transition, and finally of reincorporation. Ray argues that transformation of an individual happens in the liminal phase of a rite. For instance, in a puberty rite of passage, the child becomes an adult through the symbolic deconstruction of childhood and reconstruction of their new adult persona. Likewise, through a naming ritual, a newborn’s connection with the ancestral world is transformed into their position as a full human person in the world. In the liminal phase, those encountering a rite find themselves between who they were and who they will become.
There are many African rites of passage particular to women. In several African cultures, rites emphasize reproductive powers. These often begin with puberty rites, which signify that a girl has become a woman and is thus capable of motherhood. Marriage rites, child-naming ceremonies, and birth rites also point toward a woman’s eventual transition to motherhood. The status of motherhood is regarded as higher than that of a childless wife in many traditional African cultures. It is notable that the emphasis on reproduction in African rituals is not a purely African trait, but one greatly influenced by colonial forces at play on the African continent. Even so, there are copious rites of passage for young African women which engage with reproduction. Like most African rites of passage, these rites signify a transformation of identity, namely the identity of ‘mother.’
This ritual of transformation is encountered through the Igbo rite, Omugwo. In Igboland, throughout southeastern Nigeria, Omugwo is the traditional postpartum period in which a woman and her newborn baby stay inside for approximately 28 days after birth. Omugwo translates roughly to “she has put to bed.” While the tradition varies regionally, it is always a continuous period of feast and celebration. During this time, the mother stays home, eats spicy meals prepared for her, and adorns herself with gifts from her husband, such as jewelry, special cloths, or head wraps. Friends and neighbors deliver additional gifts for the new mother and child that celebrate her newly established womanhood and homemaking abilities. The mother lies on a warm bed, where she can bond with and breastfeed her baby. She drinks fresh palm wine to encourage the flow of her breast milk. Often, a fire is lit beneath the bed to keep the mother and child warm. In Edem-Ani and most of Nigeria, the maternal grandmother is always responsible for caring for the postpartum mother during the Omugwo and for teaching her how to care for her newborn child. The new mother does not complete any housework or business and abstains from sex during this period. She focuses intently on the learning process.
A large ceremony and feast are held to name the child typically around the 28th day of the Omugwo period. This is a spiritual event in which the ancestor who has returned in the baby is acknowledged and divinations are enacted. This ceremony marks the end of the Omugwo period, also signified by the mother’s visit, Ife-Afia, to the local market. While the naming ceremony is deeply ritualistic, the mother’s attendance to the market in her finest jewels and dress is also a rite of passage. The mother is followed through the market by friends and co-wives who sing and dance. Ife-Afia marks the official beginning of a woman’s motherhood, as well as her resumption of normal life as a woman in the community.
Omugwo is representative of the liminality found in many traditional African rites of passage. During the 28-day “sitting in” period, the new mother seemingly gestates inside of her home just as her baby gestated inside of her womb. During this time, she is not yet called a mother, and yet she is accompanied by a newborn at all times. Her body remains in the liminal space of healing from the physically challenging act of giving birth. She is unable to care for herself, sacrificing her autonomy to accept a new diet, including dishes made with African pepper, dried okra, crayfish, and yam, prepared for her by her mother. Not only is the woman’s identity in transition, but she also sits in uncertainty with regards to the identity of her baby. Together, they anticipate the determination of the baby’s name, as well as the divination that will occur in the naming ceremony to determine the presence of ancestors with the child. This is a period of waiting, anticipation, and duality. There has been literal birth to new life and birth to new identities, but also death to old identities and seasons. Even in the stillness of staying indoors, moving slowly, and maintaining warmth, there is also chaos of identity as the mother anticipates what is to come. Perhaps Omugwo provides a safe space to encounter this necessary transformational chaos.
In addition to liminality, Omugwo provides space for connection to seen and unseen elements. On one hand, during this postpartum period, the mother’s experience is intensely human in its bodily characteristics. Not only is the mother’s body raw from birth, but she also learns to navigate her body in relation to that of her baby as she breastfeeds. However, the processes of nurturing the bodies of both the mother and the baby and of forming the bond between the two are all deeply connected to nature. Roots and herbs like “Uda” are utilized to cleanse the mother’s body and prevent ailments such as blood clots. Herbs like ogbu leaves and guava leaves are also used to treat the baby’s umbilical cord, rash-ridden skin, or soft head. To breastfeed and bond, the mother and baby lie together on bamboo, woven into a bed. The placenta is buried in the earth outside of the home. Nature is integral to the seen experiences of the body during Omugwo, but there is also an unseen element present throughout this rite of passage. For the Igbo people, the body and mind are always connected to the spirit. In relation to experiences of the body, such as the postpartum period, it is believed that God has ultimate authority over what happens to both the mother and child. Precautions are also taken with regard to the spirits, such as ensuring that the buried placenta is not met with the casting of unwanted spells. Additionally, the child naming rite that marks the end of Omugwo highlights an understanding of the ancestors’ relation to the newborn life. Thus, the rite of Omugwo is not only an interaction between nature and that which is human, but also a process deeply threaded with the unseen or divine realms.
Throughout the integrative process of Omugwo, new relationships are also being formed. This is characteristic of African rites of passage, which often involve the formation of new social bonds. There are two primary emerging relationships in Omugwo. Firstly, the mother is learning from her own mother how to care for and bond with her baby. She uses the period of Omugwo to form a new relationship with her child, a relationship which will become a new defining feature of her identity. In addition to the formation of a bond with her child, the mother also less explicitly encounters the formation of new social bonds in the community. The waiting period of Omugwo is necessary for her status to be elevated from “wife” or “woman” to “mother” and signifies a change in her relationship with her own mother, her husband, and the other women in the community.
Omugwo demonstrates many of the key elements of African rites of passage including a necessary period of uncertainty, a connection with nature, the maintenance of connection between the human and divine realms, and the formation of new social connections. However, with the increase of institutionalized medicine in Nigeria, the practice of Omugwo is no longer as widespread as it once was. While some outsiders to the Igbo community encourage the continuation of the ritual for its functions in supporting the mother and strengthening relationships, others condemn its rites as lacking in medical safety, leading to a decrease in its practice. Igbo women are left with the increasingly powerful choice of maintaining tradition or breaking the mold to align with modernity. Regardless of what they decide, they can look to the practice of Omugwo to understand the significance of stepping into motherhood and to imagine this passage as a period of sacred transformation.
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