REFLECTIONS ON THE WAYS OF ND’ EHUGBO (AFIKPO)
(By G A Agwo)
USU ABUGU ANU ELU, BUGHU ANU ALI
(The bat is neither a sky nor a land Animal)
Originally published in AFIKPO TODAY magazine: Vol. 2 No. 9 (Jan – Jun 2004)
The bat is neither an animal of the sky nor that of the ground. The Guinness Book of Knowledge 1997, page 85, classifies bat as “a small mammal and the only mammal that has true flight.” There are well over nine hundred species of bats. Their food range from insects, nectar, pollen grains, to blood. It is a fact that bats fly like birds, but they share other things in common with the earth-bound mammals.
How apt is it to describe the average Ehugbo elite as a “bat” based on their current lifestyle? As a people, we are no longer Nd’ Ehugbo kpomkwem nor Nde Beke. We are multi-coloured and variegated Nd’ Igbo, but not the Nd’ Ehugbo we claim to be. As for being Nde Beke, most are, to the extent of speaking Engligbo, dipping bread in tea brewed in a litre–size plastic cup. Of course, such onye Ehugbo prefers Uncle Ben’s imported rice to Uncle Sam’s Abakaliki rice. What a people!
You may wish to reflect with me on two aspects of our life-style, notably, our language and marriage ceremonies in Ehugbo today.
Before the x-ray, let me remind us of what things or values normally determine a people’s philosophy of life. They are:
(i) their lineage - the way they relate on the mother’s or father’s side, that is, matrilineal or patrilineal;
(ii) (ii) the language - that art of verbal communication peculiar to them only;
(iii) (iii) their legal culture - the mode or style of dressing which distinguishes an Eto or Esaa from the Onikara, a native doctor from other people; a married woman from a spinster; an Omezue from Ozugu Gata.
Language/Dialect is one thing that is unique to a people. Others may learn and speak it. As you read this article, people in parts of Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa are engaged in fights to protect their dialects or languages. But among the “elite” in Ehugbo are some who HATE the Ehugbo dialect of the Igbo language. They appear to regret having been born Nd’ Ehugbo. Perhaps such people refuse to accept the fact that even in the heart of London, New York, Italy, Shanghai or anywhere in the world, if they hear someone shout Jookwa, they must involuntarily turn their attention. What is the magic in that Jookwa? It is that innate language value, that naturally in-built system in you, that Ehugboness in your body tissue, which links you mysteriously with your mother tongue.
Very unfortunately, most of our semi–literate parents and even the elite, daily and consistently instil in their children the idea that it is a criminal offence to speak the Ehugbo dialect. To them, okwu Ehugbo is an animal language that makes them first-class illiterates, bush people! But your dialect is a unique identity no other people on earth have. Nigeria today registers well over four hundred languages and thousands of dialects. Each distinguishes her speakers from all other people in the world. As new languages are discovered, other languages/dialects die out when there are no native speakers. At the rate we are abandoning our language, the Ehugbo dialect, bereft of its native speakers, may die out within this 21st century or the next. So think of the implications of this possibility.
Ehugbo Marriage Custom: Ehugbo marriage customs are at the crossroads. Some of us who try to keep records of the marriage customs now appear stupid. They change by the day and almost from village to village. In an attempt to convince myself of what is happening, I had to discuss this issue with at least ten each of Horii, Oniikara, Esaa and Eto age sets, drawn from the five village groups that make up Ehugbo. Apart from the token bride price, which now stands at one thousand eight hundred naira, there are very significant differences in all other aspects. Even within the same village groups as Ugwuegu, comprising Ugwuegu Elu, Ubam and Amaizu, there are glaring differences in the quality and quantity of yams and fish for the women folk and assorted drinks for the men in each of the seven stages – Anam abia, Atogbo nku, Amari ulo, Nvunvu, Nkwanwite, Ahia Ozi yaa Eju mia (ime eku). Such differences also occur in each of the other village groups of Nkpoghoro, Ohaisu, Itim and Ozizza.
To further complicate the system, the two contracting families (bride and bridegroom’s parents) are virtually free to choose to space or not to space the seven stages. Most now choose to do all in a single day. That means neither custom nor tradition guides that now. Historians have a lot of work to do to put Ehugbo marriage rites in their true perspective.
The Ehugbo saying that “Uka Nwanyi bu igu nkwu – ya orudue ali, na ohuvukweeri” has been rubbished. The English equivalent of the saying is that the negotiations for getting married are like the tip of a palm frond which, under pressure, may touch the ground but quickly gets back to the proper position before the pressure. In other words, one can never be sure one will marry a particular girl until that girl actually moves into the matrimonial home. The negotiations may break down at any stage. The graduated and spaced marriage rites gave room for thorough study and investigation into the family background of either party. Any time from three years (adisi eto) upwards was regarded as an ideal period for the all-important friendship, understanding and sincerity in married life. The caring and honest members of our community are certainly aware of the damages already done by the current rush-rush mania. Please, sit back and think critically about it!
A more disturbing dimension has now been added. The use of soft drinks to substitute for palm wine, beer and “hot drinks”. This trade by barter is anything but fair because a community or a handful of the host family may accept anything from ten to thirty crates of soft drinks. Among the group taking the crates of soft drinks, some “buy off” the soft drinks and supply the alcoholic drinks – palm wine, etc. at, of course, some gain. As the “born again” Christians depart, members of the bride’s community must still have their palm wine, beer and spirits. What does that mean, after all? Hypocrisy, of course.
Regrettably too, most non-Ehugbo suitors are given some concessions not allowed Nd’ Ehugbo. Reason: Wo hi ibe otele (they come from a distant place). But there is hardly any village in Ehugbo today where their young men have not married from outside Ehugbo. The people who accompany such suitors return to tell stories of how stringent those parents–in–law were, with regard to their marriage customs. Based on this, it is my considered opinion that keeping to a people’s customs and traditions that are non-fetish does not amount to wickedness. Rather, it makes a people predictable and taken seriously. Where do we now stand? We are neither here nor there, like “the bat people”.
