REFLECTIONS ON THE WAYS OF ND’ EHUGBO (AFIKPO)
(By G A Agwo)
IKWU L’IBE (INTRA-MATRILINEAL CLEANSING)
Originally published in AFIKPO TODAY magazine: Vol. 2 No. 3 (Jan – Jun 2001)
The area and people commonly referred to as Igbo land and Ndigbo fall into two broad lineages – patrilineage and matrilineage. That is, in matters of relationship and inheritance they belong either to the father’s side or the mother’s side.
Ehugbo (Afikpo) belongs to the matrilineal group. This relationship is so sacrosanct that there is a total taboo on sexual intercourse or any erotic romance between any male and female member of the same lineage. In Ehugbo, some thirty such lineages have been identified.
Any normal Ehugbo indigene knows his or her lineage from the age of reason. Custom demands that for an introduction to be complete in Ehugbo it must include ibu ole ikwu? (of which lineage are you?) What is said to be at the back of the mind of the founding fathers is to give clear directives on the extent of relationship between the indigenes.
Naturally, males and females cannot live in isolation. They are bound to seek and keep company and relationship with one another. In Ehugbo, any sexual relationship or carnal knowledge involving members of the same lineage is a serious crime in the land and must be cleansed customarily. Christians who get caught in such a crime may not now be subjected to such a cleansing but their records remain soiled in living memory through the ages and they have a stigma on the family sheet. Complete avoidance of situations that may lead to this sort of crime is the only answer.
If any such carnal knowledge occurs whether pregnancy takes place or not, the natives insist on cleansing or expiation called “ime Ikwu L’ibe – intra-matrilineal cleansing. It has to be sponsored by the man.
The following (seven classified) “Isi Eku Esaa” items are required: a rare type of goat, “azuzu”; a rare hen, “avuke”; an ordinary hen “nnekwu okuku,” a tortoise “mbekwu,” a chicken “nwa okuku,” an egg of a hen “ekwa okuku” and a cock “(okokorikoo) okeeokuku.” Other accompaniments include “ogunzu,” “apa,” “oji Igbo”, (Igbo kola nut) fresh palm wine, “Nkwu elu”, and three yams “ji eto” (three yams). Those concerned know how the ritual is actually conducted.
When the fairly complicated ritual is carried out the two persons are said to have been cleansed but with a strict proviso: they must never have any sexual relations forever. They can never marry each other. A perpetual marriage impediment exists between them. As the community abhors taking away human life, if pregnancy resulted from the previous act, the child must be born and allowed to be brought up as a legitimate child of the two and cared for as such. It is one of the traditional provisions in Ehugbo a child can belong to the same matrilineage with his father. As both of them remain permanently separated from bed each may get legally married to a spouse under the normal customs and traditions of Ehugbo.
