Ichi was facial ritual scarification worn by mainly men of the Igbo people

Igbo people

Igbo people, also referred to as the Ibo, Ebo, Eboans or Heebo are an ethnic group living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects; today, a majority of them speak English alongside Igbo as a result of British colonialism...

 of Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. The scarification which indicated that the wearing had passed through initial initiation into the highest society Nze na Ozo

Nze na Ozo

The Nze na Ozo society , is the highest and most important magico-religious and social grouping in the Igbo society of Southeast Nigeria. To become Ozo implies that the title holder is now an ‘Nze’ implying living spirit and an ancestor. One then becomes the moral conscience of the community and is...

., thus marking the wearer as nobility. The scarification was found among men in the Awka-Nri areas and among a few women in the Awgwu

Awgu

Awgu is the Headquarters of Awgu Local Government Area in Enugu State, Nigeria and the Headquarters of Awgu Catholic Diocese. The Catholic Cathedral is said to resemble a space ship when viewed with Google Earth...

 and Nkanu areas. There are two styles; the Nri

Kingdom of Nri

The Kingdom of Nri was the West African medieval state of the Nri-Igbo, a subgroup of the Igbo people, and is the oldest kingdom in Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects...

 style worn in the Awka-Nri areas, and the Agbaja

Agbaja

- Locale :It is located about 300km south of the capital Abuja, and more importantly about 70km from the heavy duty railway to the sea at Itakpe which is about 70km to the south.- Resource :The Licences contain magnetite to the extend of 2.0-3.3 billion...

style worn in the Awgwu and Nkanu areas. In the Nri style, the carved line ran from the center of the forehead down to the chin. A second line ran across the face, from the right cheek to the left. This was repeated to obtain a pattern meant to imitate the rays of the sun. In the Agbaja style, circles and semicircular patterns are added to the initial incisions to represent the moon. These scarifications were given to the representatives of the eze Nri; the mbùríchi. The scarifications were Nris' way of honoring the sun that they worshipped and was a form of ritual purification.