Many African cultures view pots as metaphors for the female figure, and use such words as lip, mouth, shoulder, belly and foot to refer to distinct parts of the vessel.  Through the paralleling of the human form with non-living objects, the ceramic vessels are imbued with deep cultural significance.  “The body is the physical link between ourselves, our souls, and the outside world.  It is the medium through which we most directly project ourselves in social life; our use and presentation of it say precise things about the society in which we live, the degree of our integration within that society, and the controls which society exerts over the inner man” (Ebin, 1979; 5).  Taken from the introduction to Victoria Ebin’s The Body Decorated, this quote emphasizes the role of the human figure as a visual, tangible communicator of a society’s beliefs and values, specifically those regarding social order and the spiritual world.  Such cultural values are conveyed in African ceramic vessels that refer to the human form or body decoration (specifically scarification).  Thus the simple form of a Zulu beer pot, for example, is transformed from a purely functional vessel into an object which serves the cultural identity and ideology of its society.

The feminine form, as opposed to the masculine, is most often referred to in African pottery, and this preference among African cultures is of undeniable symbolic significance.  African pottery, with few exceptions, is typically a women’s art.  In the arts of the Zulu and the Benue-Valley cultures of Nigeria, women build the pottery pieces and give them their decoration.  In this sense, the women’s creative powers give birth to the ceramic vessels.  From their conception, the pieces suggest fertility and prosperity, birth, and in certain examples, rebirth.  Decorated with distinctly feminine motifs, such as the designs displayed on the Zulu beer pot and the Nigerian ancestor vessel shown above, the vessels serve to promote the society’s values.  In the home, ceramic vessels decorated with these motifs remind users of the desire for a plentiful supply of food and drink.  In ritual ceremonies and in spiritual sites, decorated vessels containing either offerings for the dead or the souls of the dead call upon the procreative powers of the female form to assist the deceased in the transition from the temporal to the spiritual realms.  In countless other situations in which ceramic vessels refer to the human form, and specifically the female form, the societal values of the culture are enforced in a productive, positive manner.

        Offered here are two examples of ceramic vessels that, although quite different in form and function and taken from cultures distant from one another, together illustrate the African emphasis on the powers of the human body.  The Zulu beer pot from South Africa and the ancestral pot from Nigeria both exhibit markings reminiscent of the patterns used in women’s scarification rituals which symbolize coming of age and the realization of young women’s reproductive potential.  These patterns, when applied to the vessels, identify the pieces within their specific cultural ideologies and reinforce in a very subliminal manner the beliefs of their societies.

        The Zulu beer pot features a chevron design repeated four times around the fullest part, or belly, of the pot.  This pattern is commonly found scarified directly below the navel of the female members of Zulu society.  The position of this marking draws attention to the womb, and in turn to the reproductive potential of the woman.  This design is found beaded onto leather aprons worn among rural Zulu women during pregnancy.  It is again placed below the navel in a metaphorical reference to the womb.  Found on pregnancy aprons, the chevron design is called the amasumpa, “herd of cattle,” motif.  Applied to Zulu beer pots, the design recalls for their users the metaphor common in some regions of South Africa which compares the brewing of beer to the process of pregnancy (Cole, Harris, Poynor and Visona, 2001; 491).  Thus the design attributes to the vessels suggestions of birth and emergence into a new world.  Many South African families use beer pots in ritual offerings to their ancestors with the hope of ushering the deceased into the spiritual world where they will offer guidance and protection for the living.  With this purpose, the eldest woman of a household stacks the beer pots towards the back of her home, and her husband and sons later offer libations of beer to the ancestors.

        Whether identified as the chevron design of scarification patterns or the amasumpa “herd of cattle” motif, the arrangement of raised dots on the beer pot transforms the ceramic vessel from a simple object into a significant cultural tool.  Beer and beer pots are significant elements in many facets of Zulu life, including economic, social, and spiritual life.  Pots of the shape and size shown here are called ukhamba, while similar vessels on a smaller scale are called umancishanem.  “The word ncisha, from which the name [of the smaller vessel] is derived, means ‘to be stingy’. When beer is served in this container, it probably suggests that the guest should visit for a short period, drink his beverage, and leave, or it may mean the host is short of beer” (Barley, 1994; 69).  The Zulu regard the quality and quantity of beer as an indicator of status and wealth, and the markings of this beer pot thus draw upon the procreative powers associated with women to reinforce the want of a plentiful yield of nice beer.   

        The ceramic ancestor vessel from the Benue-Valley area of Nigeria exhibits a much more detailed reference to the human body and its decoration.  Here, the allusion to the female figure is quite apparent.  Two breasts are placed above the belly of the pot, and the use of scarification patterns as the pot’s decorative motifs is much more explicit here than on the Zulu example.  Until it was outlawed in the late 1970’s by their native governments, the people of the Benue-Valley area of Nigeria practiced a process of female scarification called hleeta (Berns, 1988; 76).  Applied in stages beginning at age five or six, the applied patterns of raised dots symbolize within their societies the ripening and maturing of girls into womanhood and their emergence into society as marriageable women, and most significantly they publicize the realization of her reproductive nature.

          Hleeta designs are seen on many art forms in Nigeria.  These familiar patterns assist in the cultural socialization of the people and function as communicative symbols among the African cultures.  “Decorated pots, tools, compounds…directly and symbolically reinforce a commitment to order and stability” (Berns, 1988; 71).  Ancestor vessels, called hlefendas, contain the spirits of deceased ancestors and are usually buried in spiritual sites where family and visitors come to offer libations of beer to the spirit.  The cultures of the Benue-Valley region believe that death is a continuation of life in another realm, and the decoration of the pots as seen here reinforces this belief through visual signifiers distinct to their societies.  The hleeta patterns emphasize the female powers of reproduction, suggesting rebirth and transition into the afterlife.