I'm About To Marry An 'Outcast' (Osu) Guy

The Osu caste system is an archaic practice. However, it may suprise most people that a good number of parents that are still led by this are well-read, well-educated and exposed people.

If you really love this guy and intend to marry him, then go ahead. Be ready to face all the oppposition that will come your way from every angle.

Historical Perceptive
The Osu, by definition, is a people sacrificed to the gods in Igbo community. And they assist the high priest of the traditional religion to serve the deities or the gods in their shrine. It is the belief of many Igbo traditionalists that the deities, which were (and are still) perceived in some quarters as being very powerful, would wreck havoc in the society, if they are not appeased.

In some special circumstances, those who hold the traditional beliefs of the Igbos could transform a Diala who committed certain atrocities against the land, into an Osu. This process involved intricate rituals (offering of libations and sacrificing animals to the earth goddess). Some of the ancestors of the present-day Osu people inherited their dehumanizing social status this way.

In some circumstances, prisoners captured during inter-communal wars were sold off, and their new owners could elect to enlist some of them to Osu status by giving them away as gestures of and placation to a local deity. Other captives could be sold as slaves or become objects of ritual murder, which occurred mostly upon the death of powerful chieftains.

However, some war captives preferred the Osu status rather than being sold far away to distant lands as slaves. Thus, the population of the Osu increased. Evidence suggests that the Osu were originally regarded with “respect and honour” apparently because they belonged to the gods. This show of respect for those who attended to the shrines, unfortunately, transformed into social ostracism.  And the Osus were not many in number. But in the nineteenth century, “their numbers expanded and their status deteriorated dramatically, so that they became outcasts, feared and despised” or even abhorred.

The Osu caste system is a societal institution borne out of a primitive traditional belief system colored by superstition, and propagated by ignorance. It is absurd to categorize a human as a sub-human being.

Way Out
In 1950 the then Eastern Nigerian Colonial Legislative Council under the leadership of the late Owelle of Onitsha, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, passed a legislation that outlawed the Osu caste system. The law made it a criminal offense to discriminate against anyone on the basis of the Osu caste system. But the law, like other laws in Nigeria, was rendered impotent, as it was not enforced. But thank God for the kind of vibrant, near-independent judicary we have today.

Set an Example
If you are ready to go the whole hog in this relationship, then get yourself a good tape recorder and a good lawyer and somebody is on his way to jail.

Marry the man you love. settle down in a neutral locality and enjoy your life. I assume you'll stop giving a damn about the "osu" shit and live in the current world. Or may be I'm just plain stupid!

If you could date him, why can't you marry him? Or does it mean you never knew he's an Osu? Being an Osu doe not make him less human. If where you guys live has strong penchant for stuffs like this, then, you may consider relocating. But what really matters is if you truly love him to marry him and not this Osu thing as a pretext.

If you love him, please, marry him. Osu or no Osu. Love is what matters most here.

my sister i feel for your situation but if you are not OSU yourself you have to think of it diply before you go into it. in Igbo land we have the so called osu and UME, both are placed at the same level but OSU can never marry UME. if OSU can Discriminate in marrying an UME why not u. When Diala and OSU or UME marry things don't move very smooth history can tell you better.

It is not the fault of our generation and we cannot do anything about it. The changes has reached its limit and the limit is in marriage, before as i heard osu and non osu do not trade in the same market,do not eat togather and many other thing they don't do in common but all those are no longer in place today. Your Pastor can tell you many things but on that day he will not be their for you,after all a pastor can never advice you against it.

You have to carry your cross my sister because at the last day you family ,your pastor,your friends and even your guy will not be dia. its you and your GOD.

Fromuk, what exactly is the point of your 'discourse'? Are you advising the girl not to marry her boyfriend because he is an osu? Expantiate please.

Give up her love for the sake of culture@fayatlive? Absurd. If folks like Martin Luther King were to adopt your stance, I am sure that blacks today would still be in the dark era in the USA.

@Ogejov,

Please go to this link:

http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-23527.96.html

The subject has been discussed extensively there. You will get a variety of opinions on this subject.

My Dear Lady,

please do not marry the guy. even the bible is against it.

Marriage is for life.

Na wa o!! Abeg if anybody is Osu, if Igbos refuse to marry you, you can go ahead and marry other ethnic groups please. At least those ones will not come up with all these trash I'm hearing from supposedly enlightened people!!!

I'M SHOCKED TO SAY THE LEAST!!!!!

hi, its a pity that u hooked up with him. But the question is this, r u one as well? If you're one then its alright otherwise no amount of spirituality can get things right. If you wonna go ahead and marry him then thats your cross which you have to bear. Another thing is this, are you willing to accept whatever comes of the union in good faith? Just search your mind and then know the next step to take.  Thats why its always good to find out about one's family backgrounds earlier on. I for one wouldn't advice anybody to go into that. Most people can't travel to their village(s) and can't even talk in public because of this. My advise is that you think twice before taking your final decision. Even far away here in london its still an abomination talk more of in Igbo land. All these traditions are still been enforced to the later. I wish you all the best.

Thank you all the great nairaland. I have heard all what you guys have said. I think right now I have won my father's heart I really I thank G od for that, I will be getting married to him very soon. I did not see him as one instead I see him as a free born. Thank all I LOVE ALL STILL

@fromuk

If you claim to be christian and you still profess these views then you are a DISGRACE to christendom. You say Christ came to the world to set free, is it not from demonic ideas like Osu that he came to set us free from. How would you have felt if you were born to a supposed "Osu"? Because you feel you were free-born now gives you the right to condemn others to a life of misery through your blind discrimination? You think our lord Jesus would be proud of the views you've espoused here? Stop to think for once and not be blinded by some stupid and evil cultural allegiance.

 _spitting

And I tried to look up your "goin in Ireland", couldn't find anything like that!

The Osu/Ohu system is still strong in Igboland and has not been abolished.  While I am very much against it, if you marry this person with or without your parents wishes you will be condeming your children and their children to the same fate. Unless it dies a natural death by then. 

There are still a lot of people who will not marry/associate with one. This has nothing to do with education, religion  or enlightenment. Ridiculous, I know, but nobody has been able to undo what our ancestors did, yet!!!  Just my opinion.