Lessons From Mbari
Mbari is a deity closely associated with Anị, the earth goddess. She is the divine guardian of the ritualistic art form, also known as Mbari.
As an art form, Mbari is a ritual of art and peacemaking, usually undertaken to placate the earth goddess, Anị, in the event of a catastrophe befalling the community.
In his book, Mbari: Art as Process in Igboland, Herbert Cole aptly describes the concept thus: “The monument is a merging of architecture, sculpture, bas relief, and painting, designed and executed as a work of art, as well as a major offering to an unseen but ever-present God, in this case the goddess of the very Earth upon which people walk, the source of food plants and animals, and the main arbiter of tradition and moral law.”
This art form is indigenous to the Owerri people of Imo state. Only adults can participate in Mbari, which could take upwards of two years to complete.
Mbari houses are large, open-sided, square-shaped houses containing several life-size, painted mud sculptures. These sculptures are primarily figures of Anị, alongside other deities. Others include real and imagined animals, creatures, officials, Europeans, spirits, everyday people, etc.
Mbari art, while being a proprietary rite to Anị, is also a representation of the daily life of the Igbo community. Sculptures represented daily objects like tables, chairs, etc; as well as people from different professions, like policemen and -women, nurses, ordinary people, etc.
Hence, a Mbari house can be seen as a miniature recreation of the everyday experience of an average person in the wider Igbo community.
There also exist witty elements to Mbari, with some sculptures created as caricatures, and others portraying lewdness.
Due to the sacredness of the art and the length of time it takes to complete, workers are chosen by divination and live in isolation for the duration of the process.
At the completion of a Mbari house, it is opened in a ritual night, when the supplies used are thrown away, and the fences torn down and burnt. Afterward, a festival is held during which people visit the house and offer gifts to the deity.
Because it is regarded as sacred, Mbari houses are left to decay. New ones are constructed, rather than the old ones maintained.
The artists are expected to return to the beginning and renew their creativity, as in the cycle of nature, where the old die off and gives way to the new.
Art, while regarded as highly creative, is yet seen as improvisational. For the Igbos, value the process of creating more than the object achieved from the process.
What can we learn from Mbari?
As humans, we have the tendency to fixate on the dead or the past, things we cannot control.
Mbari, as a symbol of decay and renewal, teaches us to let go of what is done and gone, and move on.
We ought to pick ourselves up and start afresh, rather than pine for what we have no control over.
Furthermore, we are usually consumed with the destination rather than the journey, with the result rather than the process.
We look forward to graduation more than schooling itself; we are more preoccupied with retirement than our years of service; we look forward to arriving at our destination, and in the process don’t remember to participate in the full experience of the journey; we care so much about the complete story, forgetting the process of writing.
While the destination is highly important, the journey is just as important, even more so in some cases.
True, we should look forward to the result as a means of motivating us, but let us also immerse ourselves in the process.
We ought to enjoy the journey because that is what makes the destination worth it.
Even as you look forward to graduating, enjoy your days as a student, make friends, go out and see the world.
Before the marriage finally happens, savour your period of dating, it counts as well.
While you travel, don’t be entirely fixated on your destination, look out your window and enjoy the sights.
Life is a journey. Before we get to the inevitable destination of death, let us enjoy the process of living.
