Echoes from Kanem-Borno Empire ‘How we inherited the art of facial marks, perfume making and hat knitting’

As the sun rises in the ancient city of Maiduguri, 50-year-old Falmata sits by the fireplace and prepares breakfast for her family. The dish is a traditional Kanuri soup known as Kalu Karkaraye. It is made from extracts of the baobab tree and special Kanuri spices. Popularly called miyan kuka by the Hausa people of […]

As the sun rises in the ancient city of Maiduguri, 50-year-old Falmata sits by the fireplace and prepares breakfast for her family. The dish is a traditional Kanuri soup known as Kalu Karkaraye. It is made from extracts of the baobab tree and special Kanuri spices. Popularly called miyan kuka by the Hausa people of Northern Nigeria, this traditional recipe is mostly eaten with tuwon biski, made from maize flour.

“I wash the pot and boil some water. I then pour groundnut oil and mix the maize powder; I allow it to steam and that’s all, the tuwon biski is ready,” she explained.

“When the food gets ready, I serve it in the traditional bowl made of calabash and cover it. We have been taught to start serving first layer of the food to the children. The second is for the wives, then the last layer if for the husband because the husband caters for the family, and the last layer is very nice.”

Falmata said she inherited cooking skills from her Kanuri ancestors, ancient descendants of the Kanem-Borno Empire.  In its golden era, the empire was one of the world’s largest kingdoms documented in history. It has been in existence since the 8th century.

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History has it that the present Kanuri people of Borno migrated from the Arabian Golf, descendants of Sayf Ibn Dhi Yazan from Yamen, founder of the Sayfawa Dynasty in Kanem.

According to the chronicler of the Shehu of Borno’s palace, Dr Babagana Kachalla, known by his traditional title Zanna Gargamma of Borno, the compound word Kanem-Borno was driven from the geographical location of the territories of the Kanem and Borno Empire. 

“The use of the hyphenated term, Kanem-Borno was derived from the territories that are situated to the northeastern part of the Lake Chad and the southeastern part of the Lake Chad.

“Kanem is situated in the northeastern part of the Lake Chad in present day Chad Republic. Now, Borno is situated to the southeastern part of the Lake Chad, with greater part of its territories in present day Nigeria,” Kachallah said.

One of the most distinctive features of the Kanuri are facial markings. Like most African ethnic groups, the Kanuri people have tribal marks which could be traced back to the slave trade era. Some historians say tribal marks were used to protect natives of the Kanem Borno Empire from being taken captives, till this day, it gives them a unique identity.

A historian from the University of Maiduguri, Yakubu Babagana, highlights the significance of the Kanuri tribal marks.

“A lot of Kanuri people have those nine tribal marks on their face. It beautifies them. Wherever a Kanuri man appears anywhere in the world, it is easy to recognise and trace where he comes from,” Babagana said.

The relationship between the Kanuri people and the wider world, including the Arabs, has a significant impact on their culture and traditions.

The Kanuris acquired a unique affinity for fine scents from the Arabs. They are renowned for their perfumery skills across northern Nigeria. In addition to being part of their culture, the art of perfume making has brought economic fortunes for the people of Borno.

Thirty-year-old Bukar Muhammad earns N400,000 monthly as a perfume maker.

He imports the aromatic wood from India, Saudi Arabia and the Central African Republic.

Over the years, the perfume trade in Borno has attracted sales from different parts of Nigeria and neighbouring African countries.

“Customers come from different cities, including Njamena, Niger, Senegal among other countries. I used the proceeds of this business to sponsor my wedding and education. I have a lot of children; the job provides for my personal needs. I bought bicycle and motorcycle with the proceeds; I also hope to buy a car in the future. The aromatic wood must be ground like this, and put in a bottle.

“Once you buy, you must bring it here for us to process it before it emits the fragrance,” Buhar explained.

Fatima Hassan, a Maiduguri-based grandmother who was preparing to take her granddaughter to her new home after marriage arranged some gifts for the bride, with perfume topping the list.

“The ‘Humra’ perfume is of different varieties. There is white and black humra, there is one that has no mixture. These are poured in three bottles specifically made for the bride. When these are arranged, we add perfume woods, before we take the bride to her new home,” Fatima explained.

Isa Mustapha who sells perfume at the popular Monday Market, Maiduguri, and has been in the perfume business for decades, said: “Perfume is part of the Kanuri culture, other people like the Shuwa Arabs use it as well. It has been part of us for generations, you can’t separate the Kanuris from perfume. Just like you can’t ask this man to stop speaking his Fulfulde language. We inherited it from our ancestors.”

Arising from the ashes of history, the Kanem-Borno Empire amassed great fortune and land. Despite the negative impact of violent conflicts surrounding the present day Kanem-Borno, they have gained fame and recognition for their unique traditional hat, known as “Hula” in Northern Nigeria. This cultural artifact has been passed on through generations. 

Zahra Umar, now in her early 30s, said she learned the art of hat making when she was barely 15 years old.

Whenever I am done with house chores, I resume hat knitting. When I was learning back then, I damaged some of the materials. While learning the basics of hat knitting, they used to buy kid’s hats for us to practice.

“In those days, the hat frame cost only N55, thread was sold for N50. We made the hat and sold for prices ranging between N600 and N700, even at that price, it was said to be expensive.”

Aisha Abubakar is a teenage hat maker who combines her job with education.

“After morning prayers, I try to finish house chores at 7am in order to get to school early. During break at school, which is usually around 10am, we use that window to knit hat. We close from school at 5pm, and when we return home, we still knit, but if we get tired, we can rest.

Goni Umar Gubio, the chairman Cap Makers/Sellers Association, Borno State, said the hats vary, and they include Damanga, Zannah, Aji, Mutuluka, Binduka, Waziri Kashim, Nganji Kafi and lots more.

“We import some of the threads used in knitting the hats from China, UAE, England and France, but after the inferno in this market, we no longer have the capital to import the threads ourselves, so we depend on some marketers who import them.

“We need support so that we can import the materials by ourselves. We are the ones with the skills of knitting the hats, we know what we want.”

Across northern Nigeria, wedding festivities are usually steeped in traditional rites. One such practice is the lalle beautification of young brides. Maiduguri women take the lead in bridal preparations, they have upgraded their traditional lalle to artistic modern designs.

Twenty-year-old Rabi who began her journey as a lalle artist five years ago has gained popularity; her services are sought after in Borno and other states in Northern Nigeria.

“We use henna to do the designs. Once you buy, you can mix the powder in a leather with hydrogen liquid. When it gets black, you can pour henna perfume, “Muhallabiyya”, it will get dark, then add a little amount of water and mix to make it darker.

“The variety of our Henna, its quality and glamour make it superior to that of others. We add perfume, but others don’t, that’s the difference between the Kanuri henna and others.”