Every individual, from birth, belongs to a group, a community or a clan. The latter can be identified by signs or scars that they bring to the individual who, as they say, becomes their product. Jean-Marie Adiaffi, an Ivorian writer, expresses it so well through his work titled "Identity card:" Your identity card! ! Your identity card! What is this identity card story? Look at me. On this cheek, this mark that you see is my identity card. I have on my body other brands that concur in the same demonstration. Everything here constitutes my proof and my identity card. Since everything here testifies to who I am, who I am. "
Scarification is a skin incision made on the skin (most often in the face) that leaves scars to symbolize belonging to a group, ethnic group or clan. Well before our century, scarifications existed and passed through time. According to Didier Apeto, an anthropologist at the University of Lomé, Africans made marks or scarifications to circumvent slavery. "From the sixteenth century, our parents mark their children to escape the hunting of slavers. The latter turned away from people bearing marks on the face and on the body. They do not appreciate them, and therefore do not accept them in their "goods", "he explained. It is this tradition that, he adds, parents have kept to this day by marking their children.
In Togo, there are several ethnic groups whose members carry scarifications. These differ from one ethnic group to another. Our research has allowed us to discover what is done in the Kabyè, the Tems and the Pedah (ethnicity commonly called 2 times 5).
Scarifications in Tems
There are several clans in the Tems. According to Saïbou Azizou, researcher on the culture tem, it is what gives meaning and all the wealth to the scars that carry the members of each clan. "According to the culture, scarification serves to recognize clans, through children. Thus, even from the land that saw it born, a child can be easily recognized. And one avoids questions like "You're from which clan? "Saïbou Azizou said. The Tems are more demanding in the scarification of the girls than the boys. For this community, the female is likely to lose traces of its origins, since it is led to marry a man of another ethnic group. Tems, unlike other ethnic groups, do not need rituals or initiations to heal themselves. Only these marks are needed in order to belong to one of the clans that make up the Tem people. Saïbou Azizou, himself of the Mola clan, explains: "The Molas are recognized by four wide and deep scars that start from the temple to the chin with another oblique on the cheek. In the Tourés, another clan, they are the same scars, but there are six. With the difference that these are fine. The Tchokossis (those who stayed with the people for a long time and who became an integral part of this people, for a large part remained in Mango), have small scars at the corners of their lips like the mustaches of cats. The Mendes, on the other hand, have a large scar on the forehead; The Kolis, three at the ears; And the Sandou, three vertical on each cheek. " Just seeing the face of a Tem, he claims to recognize the clan to which he belongs. "I know the clan of my brothers whom I meet here in Lomé, just to look at their face," he confides, confident of him.
A person can wear the scars of two different clans. When a child is abandoned (usually in the bush), the person who finds him scarred his clan even though he already bears a mark. The one who found him now considers him to belong to his clan. "There are times when two people find a child at the same time. Then the latter will bear the scars of the clans of the two. This ritual is performed in order to ward off the death that strikes the children of the same woman, "he said. All these scarifications, according to him, are the pride of the elders of these clans who always seek to perpetuate them, despite the resistance they are faced with by modernization.
If the Tems do not use any initiatory rite to wear scars to their offspring or members of their clans, the Kabyè, they attach great importance to the ritual sense that the scarifications carry.
The Kabyè and the scarifications
Scarifications are very customary in Kabylia. They mostly come during the ceremonies of Evalo (for boys) and Akpema (for girls). It should be noted at the outset that among the kabyè, even though the child bears the name of his father, it belongs to his mother's lineage. "Because the father of the child does nothing without the approval of the maternal uncle. Basically, in Kabyè country, there is not a paternal uncle. What is often called paternal uncle, in country Kabyè, are just brothers or big brothers. The uncles are on the side of the mother and you have to be careful, since all those who are older than your mother are not your uncles. They are your grandfathers or your grandmothers. Uncles or aunts are all those who are under the age of your mother, "explains Akezou-Lelou, journalist-radio host Lomé, researcher on Kabyè culture.
However, it is the father who expresses the desire to have his child scarified. And he leaves it to the uncle and aunt to take care of it, while taking care of the expenses related to it. Originally, cowries were given to uncles and aunts by the father to buy blades made by blacksmiths to scarify the child. It is therefore the uncle or aunt who is empowered to put the blade on the cheek of the child. "The uncle" speaks "or utters some incantatory words (Olowouno) and orders the aunt to heal the child (Olo n'heye), the latter performs. In Kabyè countries, when it comes to customary scarification, the uncle (maternal of course) always goes with the aunt. And it is this one who gives the order to the aunt to make the scars, "emphasizes Akezou-Lelou. There are scarifications that identify an Evalo (on the cheeks) and those by which one recognizes an Akpema (bottom of the ears). A blade is always used for customary scarifications.
There are also scarifications that are done to a newborn child to protect him from Simka (in the Kabyè language), this little bird that walks at night. "In Kabyè country, when a child is born, from 18 hours, it is not recommended to leave the newborn outside. There is a small invisible bird (Simka) which passes between 18 and 20 hours. When it passes and the newborn is out, the latter can sting a crisis. So to avoid this, it is recommended to make Simka's scar to the child. The scars are on the temples, at the forehead and at the bottom of the medulla oblongata. If you were born and you do not do this, you can have a sudden death at any time of your life, "Akezou-Lelou informs. According to him, the scarifications also vary with respect to the cantons.
If Tems and Kabyè do the scarifications to mark the different clans in their ethnic group or to signify a moment in the life of the children, in the Pedah it has a highly spiritual meaning.
The 2 times 5 in the Pedah
The Pedad are automatically identifiable by the scarifications (commonly called 2 times 5) on the face. These scars come from the voodoo "dan", usually called python. According to the information collected, this snake carries these scars in the face. This is the totem of the Pedah. Each child Peda who is born must necessarily be healed to mark his belonging to this voodoo and venerate it. "The Pedah who does not have these scars in his face, in fact invisibly without knowing it. Since it is a child who comes from the lineage of '' dan '' and therefore carries its marks. '' Dan '' protects him wherever he goes. This is why a Pedah never loses. No matter where he is, wherever he was brought, he always comes home with the help of '' dan ''. This is what differentiates us from other ethnic groups, "confides Paul Messanvi, Dean of the customs Pedah.
A Pedah must be scarified when he comes into the world. It is Tassi who undertakes this work, after a series of ceremonies, which we spoke about in the previous dossier ("Traditional rites of exiting endangered children in Togo", L ' Alternative No. 612 of Thursday, May 12, 2017). She uses a blade to make two vertical lines on the child's forehead, two lines on each of her cheeks and two lines on each temple. The whole made 10 strokes on the face. After making the scars, the "Tassi" puts a black powder (Eti, in ewe), prepared from hyssop leaves (Kpatima in local language) in the wounds so that they heal quickly.
"After 7 days, the wounds heal and become a true peda," says Paul Messanvi. He then indicated that a Pedah has obligations towards "dan", the python. "When we see a python, our ancestor on the way, we must reverence him and carry him to where he will not be in danger. Words must be spoken to show respect. In case you discover a dead python somewhere, even if you're in a car, you have to stop. The Pedah must pick up the python and bury it with hyssop leaves. He must then strike the grave with a stone which he brings home. He must announce the bad news to his parents who will undertake to give him a ceremony, "he said. And to clarify: "If we do not do it like this, it could happen a misfortune or things will not work for the one who discovered the dead python. It is as if he refused to bury his dead ancestor. "
But today, all these scarification considerations are fashionable, especially with the tendency of young people to adopt Western culture.
Scarifications and Modernization
Few parents, regardless of ethnicity, agree to mark their children with these scars. The main reason is the stigmatization of some children. "As a group, some children make fun of their comrades who have these odd scars to the faces. But there is worse than that. People are tempted to attack other people's lives because they are from one or another ethnic group that is not loved. People refuse to be scarified so they are not easily identifiable, "says Didier Apeto, the Anthropologist. This argument is corroborated by Akezou-Lelou, journalist-animator at radio Lomé, researcher on Kabyè culture. "As a result of the socio-political turmoil that began in 1990, I personally, because of my scars, almost lost my life. The Kabyè, because of their scars, are easily repairable and are often subject to vindictiveness. So in order not to be easily identified, as belonging to such a community, people have decided not to scarify, "he says.
In any case, people are less and less interested in these stories of scarifications, especially with the push of Christianity. "Being scarified today is perceived as one is not in fashion. These scars are found to belong to another century, and therefore the person who makes them is considered always attached to voodoo cults. This person is marginalized and stigmatized in society. Who does not want to be considered to be aware of the new civilization? Asked Didier Apeto. Even among the Pedah, the families abandon the cult to the 'dan'. Children are no longer scarified. "What I have told you are those who continue to practice our rites, who devote this veneration to the python. Today, even children belonging to our community see the python and surpass it. I must tell you that when I speak of our python, it is not this big snake that almost resembles a boa of which I speak. Our python is very small and there are 2 times 5 on his face. So today, many abandon this worship. That's why you can see a peda without the scars in the face, "adds Paul Messanvi.
The other factor behind the disappearance of the scarifications remains the awareness of the associations and organizations defending human rights and the child towards the communities. It is noted that no hygiene rules are observed during these rites. A single blade can be used for ten people in a context where scourges such as HIV / AIDS are being fought around the world. This struggle, as Nadège Kinvi, Sociologist, stresses, must always start in the communities. As these are rituals in which the same blade must sometimes be passed over several persons, some families end up understanding the stakes involved in the phenomenon and abandon scarifications. On the other hand, others, always attached to the tradition or the perpetuation of these rites, refuse to abandon what their ancestors have left them. However, it must also be recognized that modernization has, in some contexts, had a positive effect on the scarifications that it transforms into signs of beauty.
Indeed, whether in boys or girls, one makes marks or scars on parts of the body to appear more sexy or to be more desire. "There are other scarifications that the Kabyè girls also do for reasons of beauty. It should be noted that customary scarifications are made from a blade. But these girls use Atsan (cashew nut). Our sisters put this nut in the fire, and when it gets overheated, they put a twig of broom and prick the part of the body chosen and they make tattoos. There are some who do it on their cheeks, there are others who do it on their arms, "explains Akezou-Lelou. The scarifications therefore take the form of tattooing, a phenomenon to which we will return in our next file.
It is clear that the scarifications through which one recognizes a community or a clan tends to disappear today in our society. They are highly spiritual in some communities than in others. All things considered, scarifications or not, one must not lose sight of its origins, its culture. It is only through this that a man can assert himself as such.
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