₦airaland Forum

Alj Harem, I don't need anything that you can possibly offer me. I've scanned through most of the information that you posted and most of it is nothing mere than fallacy.

Anyway, just to add to my previous post, Akwete cloth and George cloth also originated in cloth-producing communities in South Eastern Nigeria.

stillwater:
Maybe that was in the past, the lace the OP posted in the first page is from Europe o. That's the lace I'm talking about.
The paper-textured gele was an Igbo or South/south thing. . .and those are imported too from Asia o.
This is the paper/nylon gele I'm talking. What do they call them anyway?

[img]http://3.bp..com/-ERIHla7jXjE/Tkw23rbkjRI/AAAAAAAAAD8/g7HbLy7EWCQ/s1600/gele-photoshoot-behind-the-scenes32.jpg
[/img]

You were more likely to see that on an South Eastern or South south person in the 80's with George material. Nowadays everyone wears george, lace, aso-oke etc. Only that we don't sew it in the stereotypical style of double wrapper, lace top and puffy sleeves.
The only thing Yoruba can claim is aso oke and adire.

I looked at your link, where does it talk about the paper-gele?

You're right.

Just to point out a few misconceptions. Cloth didnt necessarily enter Nigeria through colonialism. Cloth has been in Igboland for thousands of years. However this type of cloth was not patterned and was usually white or tan. In this time, cloth was used in covering adloscent private parts. For example, adolescent girls would wear a cloth wrapper around their waist in addition to beads. In this time period, only dignified women (queens, princesses etc.) would cover their bosoms with cloth.

However, multicoloured cloth actually appeared in the 1600s. By this time, those who were wealthy enough to afford it wore multicoloured cloth and those who couldnt resorted to ordinary cloth or animal hide.

In the 1700s, different types of coloured cloth were already well established. Some communities in South eastern Nigeria even produced and distributed their own types of coloured cloth. By the early 1900s, we see the formation of the type of traditional clothes now recognized as Igbo. It was in the early 1900s that Igbo women started wearing head-ties aka "aku isi" and a second wrapper andd Igbo men began wearing Isiagu and other articles of clothing.

So in short, the rumour that Igbo people, or another South Eastern people for that matter, were Unclad prior to 1900 isnt true.
The attire shown in this photo is dated to around the 1800s.

Theres no such thing as Kokode in Igbo. However Okoye is Igbo and Okon is Efik.

amazonia:
okosula------ Ijaw

Oko-Ita------Akwa-Ibon

Okoye-------Yoruba

olokoye------ Yoruba amukoko----yoruba

Okoni-------- Edo omokoro-------Urhobo

Okona------ Edo kokode------ Igbo

okon----- Ika/Rivers/Igbo kokoye

okode---- Ora /Igala/Esakon

okoshodin-----Ijaw
okosula---------Ijaw

Oh ok.

Nri Priest, it's over. I told the both of you the same thing. It never happened. Please let's keep the focus on the topic.

Ijawgirl, I've noticed you titled this thread "Eastern Ijaw". Is there any difference between the attire of Eastern and Western Ijaw (Which I suppose live in Edo, and Ondo)?

mmadi di otutu na uwa'a.

kandiikane:
Is the ijaws the same as the cross river state people? My aunt married last year(she is from cross river state) and her husband is Igbo but she wore what I am seeing here, the attire, including the hat in the second to last photo, beaded walking stick and heavy bead necklaces.

No Cross River is Efik however every group in the east adorns themselves heavily with neck beads. :p

Just to make a clarification. The top/bowl hat has nothing to do with European ifluences or etc. It is simply a political symbol for minorities particularly those in the Niger Delta and SS. Ijaws, Edos, Urhobos, and Itsekiri all wear them. Just as the red cap is a political symbol for the Igbos so is the bowl hat for the people listed above.

@Ijawgirl these are interesting. Could you find a photo of the president with his native attire?

Dumebi obu onye?

Chinenye

I was hoping you'd prefer a stronger rationship among the groups if you had the power to do so, as opposed to "Ngwam diya agha anwu". But everyone has his opinion.

Let's stop this and stop deceiving ourselves once and for all. If this is what you learned after so many years in Anambra, then I fear that your time there might have been wasted.
There's no such thing as core Igbo. An Anambra Igbo is just as Igbo as an Igbo from Akwa Ibom or Ebonyi and vise versa. I don't understand where you are pulling this from. It really baffles me.

What you're doing is nothing more than sowing the seeds of division. A term like "core Igbo" suggests that there are other people who are less Igbo than others and this isn't true. I'm guessing you don't know what the definition of "Igbo" is. Igbo is not a single block entity but a group.

First of all tell me where you see an inferiority complex in Abia state people or how Ebonyi people are quiet. Ebonyi state is
Perhaps the smallest (in population) of the South Eastern States. Despite this, People from Abakaliki, Afikpo and other places are abundant.

Please let's not fall for this divide and conquer method.

alj_harem:
dude I was just trying to point out to you your mistakes, and how to think of things if you really want this Igbo unity to work.

I have meant some anambra folk in fact lived in anambra and spoke to them, I must admit there is a sense of superiority complex to there fellow Igbos. ( I know some would think I am trying to cause discord)

You see, I am an outsider and a settler in Ala igbo back then and in anambra i meant some igbos from different states in the south east.

ok

Anambra [/b]people to me are seen as the superior Igbos and even the people make it know to us outsiders by using words like core-igbo, real-igbo etc. [b]Also they believe they are the ones carrying the igbo cause. thus an anambra man(quote me on this again) is likely to be more friendly to an Yoruba man or an aboki than to lets say delta igbo or imo

why you ask :- Because as they believe in ranking and believe they push the igbo cause and on the same level with the Yoruba or aboki man in both sophistication and politically.

Abia - they have a lot of inferiority complex and feel threaten by anyone or group. they live in past glories. They also believe they should be where anambra igbos are on. They LOVE being part of larger groups and a sense of direction which is similar to the anambras.

ebonyi- they are more or less the quite ones, Infact it is rare to see an ebonyi man in the 3 core igbo states.

Imo - This is the truth and I would say it as it is. IMO PEOPLE IN THE WHOLE OF NIGERIA ARE THE NICES PEOPLE YOU CAN EVER MEET. even better than gwari people (northerners would know this) . Imo people are a blessing to Nigeria not to lie. All the Imo people I have met In lagos, anambra, abuja, port harcourt etc have NEVER had any hint of tribalism or superiority complex. In fact talk to an Imo man, the way he is cool calm and collected, truthfully you would love the igbo culture.

Enugu- this are the ones that bring the live and let live mentality to us. They exhibit hints of superiority complex at times but not as much as Abia and Anambra. The enugu man would rather listen and learn but knows what he wants to do in his heart. He would not talk much, they are also very pedantic in there approach to things.

Now people would say I want to cause discord or hate between brethering but I believe once you understand yourselves and see how people look at this then i believe you can correct yourselves.

You see maybe you do not see this characteristics in urselves but WE see it. I know some would call me a tribalist for this as well given my past reputation

Lastly, I would like to point out that as Andre Uweh and rightly said, THERE IS NO GROUP THAT DOES NOT GO THROUGH THIS YES EVEN IN THE CORE NORTHERN STATES. but it only becomes a problem if things like this are taken to heart or it is hindering the progress of the people.

I would love to see a day were I would hear one Igbo dialect, and a well unified igbo, yoruba and hausa, internally and Nigeria at large. DON'T TRY TO BE A GROUP YOU ARE NOT, TRY AND WORK LIKE THE WAY YOU PEOPLE ARE BUILT ON, DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELVES TO OTHERS.

I said this earlier, cool down with the insults. I'm sure there's a way that you can adequately express your emotion to him without such remarks.

@ Chinenye

I guess I was correct with my guess. I was hoping I wasn't.

NRI PRIEST:
It was the Umuoji people that moved Nkpor people at their present location and Onitsha people settled very much later. Then when civilisation came and the white man interacted with Onicha people first and they discovered that land is money thats when they started claiming Nkpor and Obosi people lands and these are people that settled in Idenmili land in the 18th century.Though they are smart enough not to bleep with Ogidi folks.

White men do not equate to civilisation. Civilisation existed far before Henry the navigator even dreamed of sailing down the African coast.

I wonder how they figured out her exact age. My Great grandmother also lived to around this woman's age. She was somewhere in the 100s but we couldn't exactly find her birthday because back when she was born people didn't keep records. She said the same thing as this woman.

"All you need to do for a long life is work, pray, and be happy."

ChinenyeN:
I will definitely answer your question, but before I answer, I'm curious to know what you think I will say. Care to tell me?

"Ngwagi diya ganwuo" is what I expected from you.

Nri Priest

A little less enmity would be appreciated.

Yes, I am interested and would like to find out. However, I suspect that I might already know the answer.

ChinenyeN:
Chyz, I don't see how it's such a big deal for you and others, but that's just me. If you've got a problem with the whole "southern", "northern" etc. then I suggest you take it up with Onwuejeogwu, Afigbo, Jones, et al. I'm not the one who invented the demarcation, though I see nothing wrong with it at all. It's just simple clan-clustering for the sake of categorization. It's not the same thing as ascribing some new identity to a collective group of people, and it certainly is not comparable to that Nri nonsense. So don't think you scored any points using that as an example.

Odumchi, are you sure you want to know the answer to that question?

Asha, you're right, but that doesn't make the categorization any less true. For instance, before I knew anything about the whole north/south/east categorization, I was already well aware of the Aro/Abiriba/Ohafia/Bende, etc. clan cluster, which we in Ngwa, Asa, Ndoki refer to as "nmogh" or "nmogho". Afigbo, Onwuejeogwu, etc. call them "eastern" or "Cross Rivers Igbo", which I learned of later on. My point is very simple. These demarcations aren't pulled from thin air. No. Instead, they have a real and legitimate basis. How people chose to use it is their own business, whether it is just to inform or to assert an argument or a point.

ChinenyeN:
I can't find a map for it, but Afigbo, Onwuejeogwu, etc. refer to it as the "Igbo sub-cultural zones or areas".
Over-reacting unnecessarily aren't you? The "north", "south", "east" etc. is nothing more than simple categorization. You should know this. It is just like how I am Ngwa, and you are Ukwuani; two separate and unrelated peoples, but as fate and oyibo design would have it, we're both categorized as "Igbo".

Had you the option to change "destiny" and be only one instead of both as you are now, how would you change things?

Thread moved.

Bandit C.:
Ifele megbu cha kwa unu ncha ebe ahu. Kpariwanu onwe unu. Later you people will have the gut to call other tribes out. Shameless people. Keep defying, scarring and bruising Alaigbo with your worthless division and i will know who would offer a helping hand when the enemies swoop in to finish you off. It's a pity. Just look at what Igbo men in the name of Ohaneze1 and Abagworo are typing here. Shame.

ikwuru eziokwu.

I only used them as an example inorder to help deliver my point.

lakal:
"All the same" seems to suggest that they are identical practices, not merely very similar ones.  Is that true for any large African group?

What you're talking about is tradition which differs from place to place while I'm talking about culture. Culture and tradition arent the same thing. However, all Igbos understand the importance of kola nuts, we all recognize chi as a deity in addition to other deities, they all answer "Mazi", have 4 market days, use palmwine, and etc.

lakal:
Really?

Could you give me an example of when they aren't?

Negro_Ntns:
Do you know why?   Because you are using language as a creed of unification.  Yoruba nor Hausa, not even Fulani uses language as a creed of unity.  

You need to find a creed, other than language, that binds your people, regardless of where they are physically located.

Igbo dialects are similar to each other.
Religion, culture and names, and social structure are all the same for all.

ChinenyeN:
Seriously?

I personally have not encountered anyone in that circumstance although I'm well aware that it happens. What I'm trying to say is that it is not as common as he is making it seem.

Pidgin wasn't invented by any one group. Pidgin originated when people who were unfamiliar with English mixed what little grammar they knew with their own language.

Abagworo

I don't agree with many of your points. First of all, I've never met an instance in which people refuse to marry due to origin. I have a few relations/townspeople who are married to people from Enugu, Ngwaland, Ikwerreland, Anambra, Ebonyi
And other areas.

Whether we like it or not, we are all "Igbo peoples". We, despite our various localities, are united under the "Igbo umbrella" for lack of a better phrase. From Kwale to Agbor, Agbor to Asaba, Asaba to the northern fringes of Igboland, south to Owerre, East to Arochukwu and South to the heart of Rivers State exist one PEOPLE but different people's.

We are different in the sense that we come from different towns, have different histories, and speak slightly different dialects, but united in the sense that we share a common identity as Igbos: the wine tapping people, the palm oil harvesters, the worshippers of Kamalu, Chukwu, Amadioha, Anyanwu, and a host of other deities.
The thing with topics like these is that you are openly inviting (nsolgbu). Anyone can easily come and post anyhow based on what they see you guys writing and it creates a bad image for the rest of us.

Bear in mind that no people in this world are homogenous and still as large as we are. Yorubas aren't. Ekiti man speaker Ekiti dialect which an Oyo man wouldn't understand. Ijebu man speaks his own dialect which is a unique form of Yoruba. All of these people have their distinctness but at the end of the dag they are still Yoruba.
Hausas also aren't. An Hausa man from Mali wouldn't understand the dialect of Hausa
Spoken in Kano or the one in Sokoto, but they are still Hausa as a group. I hope you get my point,