Igbo Red Cap Was Not Introduced by the British
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Emeka Maduewesi, Esq., LLM
The original Igbo red cap was made of animal skin soaked in camwood (uhie), which gave it a scarlet color (uhie uhie). For those who need guidance, Scarlet is a bright, intense red, the color of fresh, oxygenated blood. Crimson is a darker, but still bright and saturated, shade of red. At an earlier time in history, the color purple referred to any shade of red, not just the mixture of red and blue with which we are familiar today.
Anyway, the red cap was a standard head gear for Ndi Nze na Ọzọ, office holders, titled men and women, and other elders, for hundreds of years in Igboland before the British arrived. What the British did was to replace the animal skin version with the cloth version.
Other vestments of Igbo adults were the hand woven white and blue loin cloth ("ogodo") (akwa mmili) cross-styled or tied round their waist, and the white and blue stripes stole with fringes, a kind of tallit, which many of us thought were towels hung on the neck for whipping sweat! Now we know better! The Igbo national colors are White, Blue and Red (scarlet or crimson ). This post is about the red cap and what red symbolizes.
What is a red cap? What is the significance of the color red? How did the Igbo titled men and elders choose red for their cap? If you do not accept that every Igbo male is a priest of Chukwu, please, this is a convenient point for you to stop reading. This is because whatever I say next will annoy you into a murderous rage; a small dose of God’s wrath. For the Igbo, have you noticed that Igboland is predominantly red earth?
The color red symbolizes life (blood) and wealth, the power and authority of God to judge and protect His people, sin and redemption. “The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you (Exodus 12:13). God required that the covering of His tabernacle should be of “ram skins dyed red” (Exodus 26:14). “So she (Rahab) sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window (Joshua 2:21). Like the blood on the doorposts indicated their trust in God's mercy, the red rope symbolized Rahab's covenant and salvation. The angel of death passed the houses of the Israelites, and the Israelites showed mercy to Rahab's family and passed over her house while destroying Jericho.
Historically, the Red Phrygian is the cap of freedom, the liberty cap, the revolution cap. The Roman Empire used it to signify that a slave is now free, the Americans appropriated it in their revolution against the British Empire, and the French citizens adopted it in their own revolution against their monarchy. The Igbo slaves could not understand why they should be enslaved. Those in Haiti kept shooting “Ibo Granmoun! Ibo granmoun!” (The Igbo are their own authority) until they eventually revolted. The concept is that the Igbo take orders from no one.
As an Igbo male, you were circumcised on the 8th day according to the customs of your ancestors, and as a naked one-month old Igbo kid, that 8th-day circumcision sets you apart from all kids your age, as a child of covenant.
As an Igbo elder, titled male or female, your red cap is evidence of your redemption by God, your freedom from paying tribute to any human being, and the manifestation of your protection, so you may serve God without fear, and live a righteous life.
However, when you put on the red cap and do evil, you blaspheme the God that redeemed you, the GOD your LORD who set you free from human rulership, and the God that protects you to bear His light wherever He may lead you to dwell.
With all these historical antecedents, how could the British introduce such a revolutionary cap to a people they colonized? If you still believe they did so, the joke is on you.
If you remember my post of December 28, 2023, in which I explained that Ígbo means to protect, with the root word "gbo" to protect from [stop something bad from happening] as in Igbochi, Igbo ọdachi, Gbochie, Igbo mkpa, Igbo ọgụ, etc., this post will make more sense to you. The Igbo is a protected people.
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