Ekalang-koh (Camwood) is a very important material in the beautiful culture or the cultural aesthetic of the Yakurr people.
The botanical name is Baphia nitida. It is grown wild from Senegal to Gabon. It is also called camwood, barwood, and African sandalwood.
It is a shrubby, leguminous, hard-wooded tree from central west Africa. It is often cultivated near villages, more often as an ornamental shade tree or as a fence and hedge.
During festive ocassions, it is used to rub women and men on their bodies and legs. Also during the fattening room (kukpul), it is used to paint the legs and bodies of the maidens.
There is no single cultural group that the camwood is not used to decorate people to have them look special and beautiful.
During Lobo, in Yakurr festival, it is used to paint the body of yabono. It is believed that camwood has some spiritual and magic power.
As body paint, it is considered to have magic powers and warriors who had killed an enemy or a leopard painted their foreheads with camwood for ritual dances.
In Yakurr, when Obol Lopon or the Heads of the matriclan are selected before coronation they are required to go into a fattening room to be tutored in the philosophy, ethics and culture of the chieftaincy institution.
It is also a period of spiritual cleansing where they are not expected to eat food prepared by their wives or any women. During this period of the expurgation their bodies are also painted with the camwood.
Written By: Okoi Obono-Obla