armyofone: The yam you mentioned above is not just any yam. It is the watery yam or Water yam (has a scientific name too).
I'm not sure you can grate just any yam except water yam and yellow yam for (yam pudding)

nice job sha OP

You may be right. Is it IKPEN or IGIOWA? Definitely not IYAWO OMOROTIOMWAN.

If a person is to be interred at home, the Palace of the OMON N`OBA has to be informed and approval sought.The Office of the Omo n Oba gives a piece of white cloth if consent is granted. It is almost always so.
The local council is in charge of cemeteries.

After a visit to a cemetery, a Bini must wash his or her feet before stepping into a house. The rule does not apply to grave(s) in a house.
Poster has concluded that the tradition of washing the Whiteman's feet before entry into Benin Kingdom was based on the belief that the Whiteman's land was unknown and thus SPIRITWORLD.
Consider this EKHARRA(poem).
I do not remember whole poem but the relevant part goes thus:

Ogbeide n'ovbie (Ayen?)
E re ne Oba gie
No gha rhie Erimwin
Ba mwen (uhi no yi?)
Osa n'akpama
Ogele yo rhe
Ona o re ogiemwin!

Ogbeide the son of (Ayen?)
The one the Oba sent
To go to the spirit world
Because of (the law he made?)
God the creator
He truly went and came back(returned)
This is something great!

Ogbeide was an ambassador to a European country!

The first day of a funeral in Biniland is called IWA ORIMWIN. The corpse lies in state. Some members of the family sit around it sometimes singing dirges. Others make wishes for the next coming especially the ones that eluded the deceased while he/she was alive.

The Binis believe in reincarnation. A person is believed to make fourteen earthly journeys and each time coming through the same family.

The Iwa Orimwin is also an OKPO VBIE(wake keeping). One or more local musicians provides musical entertainment at the wake.

Typically,while a body lies-in-state,events will be going on around. There is the UKPUKPE. This youth procession has all the vigour of youth in it. Excitable and physically demanding, older ones who try to remind themselves of their youth and wish to remain so,soon find that time has caught up with them.
Running ,singing,drumming,dancing,clapping around the streets in the neighbourhood of a funeral,sometimes brandishing machetes(cutlasses),sticks or branches of trees just broken off or even running around with the empty casket in which the deceased is going to be buried in.
Nothing frightened yours truly more as a child than hearing the 'kpem gbum,kpem gbum'of an ukpukpe drumming and the song
" We wu? We no ghi me na.We wu?
Will you not die? You that is looking at me.Will you not die?
I will decide not to look as an answer to their song. I thought the question was in the immediate.

.

Also,the children of the deceased come out to thank everyone who came to commiserate with them. It is an opportunity for them to see if preparations for their invited guests went well for they might afterwards be encumbered by the burial of the deceased and other traditional ceremony(ies) required of them. This is especially so for the Omo Odion.
During this EKPOMWEN,as this greeting of guests is called,there might be a mischievous member of the family who,though saying the right thing,is using it at the wrong occassion.
The general Bini way of saying 'thank you,everyone' is 'wa hia, ru ese'.
When someone comes into fortune, or,there is an occassion to celebrate an achievement,the above is said with the additional ' noma re so re egbe,ogha vbe so re egbe'(if it has not reached you,it will reach you).
The second leg of the Ekpomwen is inappropriate at a funeral. It is not however unusual to hear the black sheep of the family whispering it as they go around greeting their guests.

Good job, I never knew we had a traditional igigio, I have been eating it in lagos as per the yoruba-made, ojojo. The names sound alike, so there could be a link. Pls can u shed light on inheritance laws. First son portion, second son, and whether women can inherit some things

rabzy: Good job, I never knew we had a traditional igigio, I have been eating it in lagos as per the yoruba-made, ojojo. The names sound alike, so there could be a link. Pls can u shed light on inheritance laws. First son portion, second son, and whether women can inherit some things

Lagos boy, I hope you go home often and you do ask your parents questions about tradition and custom of the Esan people.
Yes,there is IGIOGIO and a dodo-like one made from yam called DUDU.
The Bendel State Customary law which is applicable in Edo State makes provision for customary method of devolution of property.
The most important section of the customary law is to the effect that a person cannot make a will without taking into consideration the custom of the people. That is,a person cannot will his property to an animal,or,disinherit the eldest son by giving out the IGIOGBE to any other,for instance.
The IGIOGBE is the place the deceased lived and died.
The IGIOGBE being discussed here is the one back home. The custom is not settled on whether if a person lived and died in Norway,for example, his property in Norway would be inherited by the eldest son.His PERSONAL LAW versus TERRITORIAL LAW. It is most likely that the devolution practice in Norway would be followed.
One thing for sure is that the eldest son inherits the IGIOGBE.

Most Igiogbes in Edoland are old and in neighbourhoods that an 'exposed' person might not want to live in. Though uncommon, there are cases of eldest sons bribing the OKAEGBE,if the deceased had more than one landed property,to bestow on him a more modern property while the Igiogbe is shared by the other children.

Provision is made for every one to have something whether male or female but the allocation heavily favours the male members of the family.
The first son takes the Igiogbe.
The second son takes the next landed property, if any, and in diminishing importance.
If the property is only one and there are other sons from other women,the issue becomes complicated. There was a along Isekherhe just before Usama in Benin City that was physically sawn into two!It is possible!

Thanks man, I was at home twice this year, altho na ceremony dey carry me go, once we are done am gone. My grannies are no more and so nobody to really visit.

Thanks for the info.

bokohalal: On my father's side it is La'Umogun.

Interesting. My mum's side greets that way but I greet like my father's side, La'vbieze

Good job boko hala.

A grave could be dug inside a house,side or back or front of the house. I would say though,that the front and sides is not as common as the inside and backyard graves. And I do not think there is any tradition pertaining that. Only aesthetics.

The new trend is to have a mausoleumlike edifice in a front room.

And then there is the cemetary.
It is not uncommon to get to the cemetary in a procession and with a corpse to inter and meet the gravediggers still at work.

It is believed thst while a body lies in state and there is rainfall it means the deceased misses the world left behind.

Some families lock up the bedroom of a deceased for sometime. It is believed that the deceased needs time to tidy up in private before departing for the other world. There are 'unsubstantiated' cases of people having headaches or having strange feelings when they barge into a just deceased room.
Note that the deceased is not in said room at this time.

If a somewhat young person with children dies,especially a woman,her young children's faces are painted black so they would be unrecognisable to the mother spirit that missed her children so much and might come to get them to go with her.
This charcoal is applied at nights before the children go to sleep.

Many people wash and dress a corpse at home
A section of the backyard is covered in coarse mat and everyone not directly related to the deceased is then asked to leave the vicinity while the corpse is brought out and into the enclosure made by the mat to be washed.
The said mat is called 'aghen'.
This mat is woven differently from the regular mat called 'Ewa'.
Hope I got the 'aghen' right. Anyone should feel free to correct or expand on any topic raised.

Iselogbe! Ogbe me vbe dia ru! Ogbe ma gba rho!

bokohalal: Iselogbe! Ogbe me vbe dia ru! Ogbe ma gba rho!

Ogbe ma vbe dia ru!!!

nice

bokohalal: EMA(fufu),EBA(garri),ELUBO(amala) and Akpu are eaten with vegetable soup,ogbono,egusi or cottonseed soup.
USI(starch) is never eaten with ogbono.
OWO is the most popular Bini soup dish. The Urhobos also have OWO but their preparation is slightly different from the Binis. Potash is the addendum that turns meat and or fish with spices in a boiling pot of water to OWO. Owo can also be made without putting the pot on fire to cook. This is called OWO OTO.Owo is only eaten with yam,plantain and or cocoyam.
Meat and fish are used to make soup. Unless forbidden or for religious reasons every animal from the forest is considered meat.

Twins in Biniland are forbidden from eating apes and monkeys.
Some Ogun worshippers do not eat snails.
Most traditional people do not eat any animal that died naturally in the house such as chicken or goat(Animal must be killed).Same with bush animal.
Some Bini families do not eat a variety of cocoyam.
Most Bini families do not eat dogs.
Frogs,cats and rats are forbidden to be eaten.


Some Bini families actually forbid dogs living in the home. No dog as pet. Dog is good enough as sacrifice to Ogun.

But do Hunters keep dogs to assist with hunting?

OlaoChi:

But do Hunters keep dogs to assist with hunting?

Incidentally, one of my late uncles was a hunter ( among his various other professions and hobbies!) . He was to my young mind the most cerebral human being to have walked the earth. He exposed magic and practiced it.He debunked myths and superstitions and rationalised it. He hunted to prove that it was doable by anyone and not due to any special powers attributed to traditional hunters.
Since my family forbids dog even as pet he hunted alone or in company of other human beings.
So, I do not know of a situation where people used dogs to hunt. Or maybe my uncle never did because of the above or just to prove that man has a predatory and sensory perception as much as a dog's!

bokohalal: Some families lock up the bedroom of a deceased for sometime. It is believed that the deceased needs time to tidy up in private before departing for the other world. There are 'unsubstantiated' cases of people having headaches or having strange feelings when they barge into a just deceased room.
Note that the deceased is not in said room at this time.

We practice this in Idenmili. Infact,there are a lot of similarities between Benin culture and that of Idenmili.

Bokohala,talk a bit about marriage rite in Benin.

bokohalal:

Skeptical about your American claim because non -Edos call us Binis.
To oblige you.
Yam as pounded yam(ema) is used during worship of Gods such as Ogun or Olokun.
Cooked yam porridge,without any oil but spiced and with the sacrificed animal,is eaten at Ogun shrine. It is one of the most delicious foods on earth.
Whole or cut up yam is burnt and placed on Esu shrine.
To keep death away from a house,yam is cut up,cooked and then mashed with red palm oil and cowries and placed around the house.
Same with sacrifices to 'elders of the night'(eniwaren ason). The yam dish is placed at junctions close by. This is called 'izobo'.
The mashed yam earlier mentioned is called 'obobo'.
No other food crop is so used. Corn/maize is sometimes substituted for yam at Esu shrine.

But do you have yam deities,yam legends,yam chieftaincy titles? I wanna know how deep yam culture is in Benin. Like in Anambra,a huge yam barn is an evidence of wealth. A woman doesn't go into a barn and you can't go in there at night. We also have titles given to people for theeir success in yam farming,like Ezeoba,diji,okotalukwe,olua olie.

NRI PRIEST:

We practice this in Idenmili. Infact,there are a lot of similarities between Benin culture and that of Idenmili.

Bokohala,talk a bit about marriage rite in Benin.

Okay.

bokohalal: There are said to be eighty-four Bini families. The Bini is known by his Morning Greeting. Each of the eighty-four families has a unique morning greeting. Every Bini male or female is supposed to know the way in which his or her family greets. Infact, if there is anything a Bini would teach his child,even if born in Samoa or Tajikistan,it is his family morning greeting. So, if two Binis who have never met all their live get to know that they greeted the same way,right away they know they are related.

True. While unable to speak the language I know some aspects of the Bini culture through books and what my parents and relatives told me. I know for a fact that Binis have identify clans within them based on their greeting, usually from the father's side. I will talk more on this. A question though: Attimes I greet my maternal relatives (they greet 'lamogun') with my paternal side's greeting ('lavbieze'), is this wrong ?

NRI PRIEST:

But do you have yam deities,yam legends,yam chieftaincy titles? I wanna know how deep yam culture is in Benin. Like in Anambra,a huge yam barn is an evidence of wealth. A woman doesn't go into a barn and you can't go in there at night. We also have titles given to people for theeir success in yam farming,like Ezeoba,diji,okotalukwe,olua olie.

I think we have a new yam festival called Igue festival. I recall as a child we always ate pounded yam and a soup during that day, though we celebrated it quietly in Lagos.

boobyman: And I feel that alot of we binis are vastly loosing our identity in that alot of us benins can't even speak our dialect.This can be attributed to our parents who are not teaching us d language and also it's bot been taught in schools anymore. Alot of binis are becoming yorubanized.

Very true. Many Binis over time relocated to Lagos because of the opportunities it offered. Unlike the Igbos we didn't have strong clubs which helped preserve the cultural identity (language (in particular), history, dressing etc) of the Bini people. But at least, the good side is that Yoruba tend to view Bonus favorably because of this. And by the way, I once talked with a security guard in my school after noting that unmistakable Bini accent he spoke with, it was surprising to hear he was a Yoruba man. So the reverse occurs on a smaller scale: besides karma must be repaying Binis for the Yoruba tribes they conquered and annexed to their empire.