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Understanding relevance of domestic clay pots in Yorubaland

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clay pots
clay pots

DOMESTIC clay pots are vessels made of clay, which are used for performing certain actions like frying, cooking, keeping water or items, even sieving.

However, before molding, the clay, first of all, must undergo some sort of purification before pottery-making commences. This is because raw clay contains a lot of impurities like sand, rocks, vegetable, among others, which need to be removed.

After purification, the pure clay is then mixed with water to make it malleable, and then kneaded to remove all air bubbles.

Shaping is then accomplished by use of hand; this is because raw clay requires simple pinching, a depression in a ball of clay into a desired shape.

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There are various uses and relevance of domestic clay pots in Yorubaland. Different clay pots are used for cooking, for example, agbada (fryer) is used for frying. The agbada is a shallo flared bowls with short rims made in different sizes. The bigger ones are used in the open for frying large quantities of food such as garri, while the smaller ones are used for frying bean cake (akara), meat, fish inside the house.

Isaasun, another clay pot, is a small shallow pot with wide mouth often fitted with an inverted life, and some without lids. Isaasun is used for cooking stew and soup.

There are different types of Isaasun, like Isaasun agbebi, which is used for burying the placenta of newborn babies, while another smaller Isaasun is Isaasun aseje, used for preparing medicinal soups, among others.

There is also the ape (cooking pots), which is oval-shaped and bigger than Isaasun. The ape is used for preparing starchy foods like yam flour paste (amala) or maize pap (eko). The wide mouth of ape permits free movement of the shaped wooden stick used for stirring the food.

There is also the pitcher (oru/ladugbo). This is a special pot with small narrow mouth, averted rim and round base with lids. They are mostly used for boiling water, herbs and for fetching water from the stream.

The small mouth of oru helps prevent their contents from spilling out easily when carried on the head, while the round base serves as balance on a head pad.

Despite the advent of modern technology, domestic clay pots enhance the preparation of foods and make them easy to be digested.

The heat for cooking also softens meat and makes the protein content available to man when chewed.

Pottery enables the detoxification of certain foods and drinks because of blending tastes caused by the presence of free soluble salts in the porous clay.

Domestic clay pots also reduce health challenges associated with iron and aluminium domestic pots, hence it is recommended that awareness should be created by the museum on the importance of domestic clay pots through programmes targeted at housewives/women.

Also, potters should be encouraged to improve on the durability of clay pots generally to meet contemporary demands.

  • Olaifa is principal technical officer at the National Museum of Unity, Ibadan, Oyo State.

The post Understanding relevance of domestic clay pots in Yorubaland appeared first on Tribune.

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