On my quest to know about my tribe, I stumbled on a blog called Trip Down Memory Lane. He had quite a good post about the Ibibio People of Nigeria and I was totally impressed. Apparently we are known as one of the most ancient of all tribes in Nigeria. Five million people speak the language and the language of course dates back as old as the people but its written history is quite recent.
As written, it seems we engage mostly in Agriculture, and trading…..hmmm that´s probably where my poultry farming sprung from….yes I had a small farm I was quite proud of but that´s another story!!! Going into religion I got really ticked by the names more than anything…ndem isiong(fertility goddess) ndem ndua(market god). Way cool.
Marriage ceremony is basically the same as other tribes. After proposal comes the intro to the family called ndidiong ufok which involves close family members of the groom visiting the bride´s family. Next step is nkong usong which is where the groom officially asks the bride´s father for her hand in marriage. Now this is the fun part. During this process, the groom is given a list by the bride´s father representing her family and the elders. This list can contain anything from a dime sized jewellry to a suitcase full of clothes and fabrics to a race horse. Yes I said it…the list can be flexible like that lol. I remember one time a friend told us about the contents of her cousin´s list and some one asked for a horse and I thought that was totally hilarious. Everyone in her family makes a demand that goes into the list. Now the father of the bride can decide to slice up half the list…if you are lucky. Hahaha. Now the day the contents of the list are delivered is called uno mpo. The list is a way of apologising to the bride´s family for taking her away therefore reducing hands to help out in the kitchen and on the farms. Well of course there are no farms where the girls help out now, but the idea still remains, hence tradition stays but mixed up in a modern twist.
I find Nigerian tradtional weddings really cool…hiding the bride and keeping her away from her groom, where she holds a cup with the palm wine and dances around in search of her groom finding him and offering him a drink given by her parents which basically means they agree with the union. It´s usually an expensive and long ceremony so of course it´s done according to what can be afforded and these days people cut the whole thing short. Anyways check his blog out for detailed Information…it´s quite a lot I admit, but heyyyy it needs to be written!!!
