₦airaland Forum

MIDWEEK FOLK STORY / [center][/center]WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS

THE TWO RATS AND THE TORTOISE

Once upon a time, two brother-rats went on a stealing expedition. They went into a kitchen in the neibourhood and stole one big dried meat from the fire-place basket (Ngiga) and sneaked away. When they came to a convenient and safe location, they decided to share their loot. When the sharing began, they started having issues about fairness and the evenness of the two portions of the share. One was accusing the other of being greedy and overbearing while the other sees the other fellow as selfish and unnecessarily suspicious. None of the two brothers trusted the other and a serious quarrel developed. At this stage, the sharing was suspended and two-fighting loomed.
Then came Mr Tortoise. He appeared at the scene and sought to resolve that matter for them. When he learnt that it was all about sharing a piece of meat and fairness, he told them that their problem was over. He boasted how everybody in the village used to come to him for conflict resolution and justice and how impartial his judgments have always been.
With this assurance, the brother-rats heaved a sigh of relief, trusted him and surrendered the piece of meat to him. The tortoise quickly broke the piece of meat into two and showed it to them. They looked at it and pointed out the bigger one. The tortoise used his teeth to remove the difference, chewed and swallowed it. He showed it to them again and the one that was smaller portion before now became bigger and they told him so. He repeated his action, chopped off the difference, chewed and swallowed it. He showed them the two portions again. At this point, the bigger became the smaller portion. The tortoise repeated this action again and again until the whole meat got finished.
With this, the brother-rats cried bitterly and started blaming one another. At this point, the tortoise smiled mischievously, excused himself on the ground of being behind schedule to a peace-making meeting and zoomed off.


MORAL LESSONS
1. The brother-rats were naïve and did show common sense at all. They ought not to have allowed the tortoise to finish eating all their meat before realizing that he was up to something. Once beaten, twice shy. After the first and second round, they could have stopped and demanded to have their meat back. By so doing, they would have retrieved something at all. Some people are very timid and fall easy prey to more clever ones. That is how some people are knocked out of business.

2. Like father like sons. Whatever you do has a reflection in the character of your children. We know the rat family as thieves. What would their father say if they had been arrested and lynched? Their father will not disappointed when he hears that his children went to steal. Lay good example for your children and teach them sound morality. They will disappoint when they are on their own.

3. Do not obtain by stealing or by tricks because what does not belong to you belongs to another person. The rats committed an offence by denying the owner of the meat the right ownership to what belongs to him. They, therefore, do not deserve justice or happiness.

4. When two brothers fight dirty, a stranger will inherit their father’s property. The brother-rats did not trust one another but elected to trust a stranger. That is what obtains when two brothers fail to resolve their differences inhouse and take their case to the public court or village meeting, Igwe-in-Council or to the police station. Not only that they will lose control of the matter but will expose themselves to public ridicule.

5. The tortoise has lived up to what we know about him and will never change. A treacherous, shameless and dangerously shrewd individual who is also extremely selfish and greedy. He lives a life without morality and has disappointed in this occasion again. Try to have a good name and integrity in your family, village, place of work, in the church and among friends. There must things you cannot stoop so low to do no matter the attraction. People who know you will be disappointed when they learnt that you actually did after defending you.

6. It is not strategic at all to try to resolve your differences in the street, market or in any open place. Every tom, dick and harry will come to suggest to you or be your counsellor including the devil himself. Your heart, bedroom, family parlour or compound are the best place to sit and resolve differences. It may take more than one round of discussion, fix another date and adjourn. It is worth it.

From the Village Elder,
Okenye
(Rev Fr F.O.F Onwudufor)
Ụkọchukwu Osebụrụwa
www.igboproverbs.com

TRADITIONAL FAMILY REMAINS THE BEST

Ezinụno means more just a word for the family. It was deliberate combination of two phenomena created by our forefather to convey a lot of meaning in the Igbo worldview. Both the ezi (outside) and ụno (inside) all referring to the family setup. nọ has to do all that within sight in the man’s household such as his buildings, utensils, farming implements, defense objects like bows and arrows, palm trees, African pear (ube), yam barn and the rest. Ezi refers to all human and material resources that are outside the compound, such as ụmụnne, in-laws, ndi nwadiani, ndi nnaochie. Other non-human components are family lands, economic outside the compound (nkwụ na ụkwa). Ezi is never complete unless ụno is attached and associated with it.
An average Igbo family before the coming the white man was headed by a man with one or many wives. His children could be as many as he could have depending on the number of wives and their ability to bear children. The major reason for having as many wives and children as possible were to provide him sufficient hands in his farm. He is well-known in his vicinity and his means of livelihood is known to everybody. He would set up his own family compound without any fence or demarcation between him and his next neighbour who could usually be his brother or kinsman. The compound space was a thoroughfare for passage from one compound to another without anybody raising an eyebrow or try to hinder movement. In fact, not to use one’s compound for passage was considered a sign of enmity. The person passing will show pleased he or she is in doing by saluting everybody in the compound including those who are eating inside the house.
The man builds his outhouse (obi) at the main entrance to his compound so as to monitor entrance and exit into and from his family. He builds a hut for each and every one of the wives in the inner recesses of the compound. The women and their children lived in great harmony as everyone regarded the neighbor’s child as her own and do not hesitate to serve disciplinary measure to any erring child whether the child is her own or not. This is because the whole community sees child’s upbringing as a collective responsibility.
The compound was kept clean in turns usually by grown up girls or their mothers. It is the man’s responsibility to provide afternoon meal for all the wives usually yam. The women duty it is to take care of breakfast and supper both her own children and the husband. Every woman knows the very spot when her own lunch yam will be kept for her own and would never take the one that belongs to another for any reason. Whenever she could not see her own, she would know the reason and would never dare to take another’s portion. Possibly because the husband has something against her. Afternoon meal was usually vegetable yam portage with ukpaka, ordinary portage with oil and ogiri, yam eaten with vegetable soup. Other possible menu includes fiofio portage (pigeon beans), unripe plantain chips (achicha) with vegetable and cocoyam vegetable portage (ede a gworo agwo). Every child is free to enter into the other woman’s homestead to take a meal especially if the mother has not returned, has nothing to give to her children or cooking late.
The women are expected to take care of supper from their own effort. This is usually foofoo/pounded and bitter leaf soup/oha, nsala, ukwa (breadfruit) which is either prepared portage or with bitter leaf (ukwa onugbu), abacha with ncha/ngu. The man is entitled to a dish from each of the wives. It is sign of homage and honor and he takes what he could and pass the rest to his children. There are special delicacies reserved for a man who has performed a special task or about to engage one. Such special foods include ukwa (Oru a na-esiiri ukwa), thick special bitter leaf soup (aka aga n’oku). A wife is courting trouble if refuses to provide this supper whatever it is. However, she knows that the type she presents would to a large extent determine the quality and quantity of love she would expect in a very wife-competitive environment.
The man maintains high level of discipline in the household by enforcing a lot of laws and sanctions against quarrelling, bickering and intolerance. The women are aware of all these and make efforts not to go foul of any of the rules. Such bye laws are fighting, quarrelling especially in the presence of the man or early in the morning, stealing, poisoning, making of charms and willful damage of property among others. The punishment could range from fine, rejecting one’s food for a specific time, reporting you to your family, suspension to divorce.
Child discipline/duty
The children behave themselves and are very dutiful. Supervision was superb as the parents always engage them and never allowed to loiter or be too playful. To allow this could bring bad name to the family when such a child identified in outside the household. No family would want to have anything to do with such a child and would warn their own children not to associate or have anything to do with him. Every grown-up child, male or female is expected to go to the farm with the parents every morning. There was no going to school and you cannot to be idle. Doing that may even earn you the risk of being sold into slavery for being useless. When they are not in the farm, they are fetching water, keeping the compound clean, washing plates or scrubbing floors which was normally clay-coated and would require constant re-touching especially by the girls.
Each child has his or her pot befitting his size for going to the stream. The stream is usually located at the boundary between two towns or at one end of the town and could as far as more than three or four kilometers from the family. Depending on the distance, the children would gather together and set out as early as 2am or 3am to the stream and would go about two or three rounds before daybreak. The size of the water pot carried by each child would be either according to age or strength or both. To carry who is below one’s age or expected strength would attract mockery and humiliatory remarks among his peers and even parents. Every female child is expected to be around the mother in the kitchen during cooking to learn by helping. This is taken very seriously as it was a source family shame for a any married woman to be a bad cook (nwaanyi ajo nri).
It is a matter of serious concern and minus for our general to think that our forefathers were marrying upwards of seven or more wives and were able to maintain peace and tranquility in the household and was able to feed them. This is in spite of all the money, exposure and education, it is difficult a man to manage a single woman. It is worrisome the number of divorce cases that litter our society despite all the facilities available to us.

Okenye
(Rev Fr F.O.F Onwudufor)
Ụkọchukwu Osebụrụwa
www.igboproverbs.com

ỤCHỊCHA BURUKWA EGBE BURU MMA, YA AGAFEKWANA N'AMA ỌKỤKỌ
(No matter the weapons the cockroach may rely upon, let him not cross the homestead of the fowl)

BACKGROUND:
Cockroach and fowl have remained perpetual enemies and bad neighbours from creation. The fowl had always eaten the cockroach since they came to know each other taking advantage of the fact that the cockroach has small size and lack bone. Their generations are aware of this. The cockroach and his siblings had always avoided this deadly enemy since ages. What then could have emboldened the cockroach this time around to arm himself and dare the territory of such a powerful and deadly enemy? What does it hope to achieve and how does hope to survive it? What has changed? Maybe, it has declared that enough is enough and that the bully must be challenged. This is the time to rebel against the status quo. Let's see how far he can go. Our own is to warn him about the possible consequences of the action he is about to embark upon.

MEANING
Igbo
Ọ nwere mgbe mmadụ ga-ekpebi ịtụfụ ndụ tụtụrụ onwụ n’ihi mmegbu. Onye karịrị mmadụ karịrị ya na-agbanyeghị ịkpo ganị ganị ọbụla. Mmadụ kwesịrị ịma onye karịrị ya. E jịghị iwe emezi ihe ụfodụ. Onye ume adịghị enweghị uru ngwo ogụ ga-abara ya. Ọ dị mkpa mmadụ ịchaara onye ịhe anaghị adabara ha abụo n'ihi na o nweghi ịhe e ji nsogbu eme. A naghị etichapụtaara onyeiro obi. Amamịhe ka mmadụ ji eso onye karịrị ya. Ịgbanahụ nsogbu amaka.

MEANING
English
Slavery and intimidation must have an end one day. There is limit to human endurance especially when it concerns man’s inhumanity to man. There are some people who will not allow you to be for no just reason. Perhaps, simply because they are stronger, more educated, richer, from a better family or other forms of advantage. You may endure it as long you could but there may come a time you will not wish to take it again especially when you have got children and you need to liberate them from this bondage before you die. You may decide to sacrifice your own life if the need be in order to secure their liberty. At such times, you may not count the cost or peril. There may come a time you may decide to take on the wicked uncle who has been seizing your family lands all these years. This time around, it does not matter whether he is richer or stronger, danger or no danger.
There are some kind of daring we may not have to undertake because it does not worth it. The cost of the risk involved may so much out-weigh any other calculation that it becomes foolhardy to embark on it. The cockroach is just embarking on a suicide bid and needs to be cautioned no matter what level arsenal he is relying upon. Even if he carries an Anti-tank or Rocket propelled grenade, the fowl will find it very easy to disarm him and turn him into an instant meal. There are those we must avoid in our lives because of the harm they can do to us. A poor bricklayer who is starving may be advised not to take his billionaire brother to court. It is not a hundred-meter dash. A taxi driver should be advised not to dare a drunken driver of an articulated vehicle (trailer) no matter how infuriated he may feel. Some people are naturally not your match and in order not to increase your woes, it is better to give them a long rope always.
Furthermore, advice is very crucial in the life we live. It is only a foolish person who thinks that he does not need advice. You should give it when you ought to and receive when you should. Relying on and taking good advice can turn you into a wiser, more tactical and better-behaved person who is also respected by many. It can remove careless mistakes and avoidable expensive miscalculations. On the other hand, not taking advice can make you look foolish and over-confident. You may pay dearly for not accepting a piece of useful advice when it was given. Nobody knows it all and you may not be able to consider all the perspectives of any issue or decision at all times especially when your mood is not good. The cockroach needs to be properly counselled before be lives to regret his sudden new-found courage. Your good friend may advise you against it when you have made up your mind to confront your senior brother who is paying your fees because it is as if he has seized all your perceived freedom and you need to assert yourself. Your sudden and exuberant decision to challenge your landlord because he appears to be too harsh with you may be ill-thought out and should be advised against.
Do not be tired of running away from a life-threatening enemy. Life cannot be replaced. Always run away from trouble as much as you can. Trouble has zero-benefit but can take away all that gained in life when you play into its deadly hands. It can wound you, make you lose money, lose your freedom and ultimately can take away your life when it comes to that.
Human protection can fail you when you least expected it. No matter the type of juju or talisman you have got from a renowned herbalist, never you rely on it. Even when you possess the best ammunition in town and surrounded by the best army, it is still not the ultimate defence. Ultimate power comes from heaven and that is what you can rely on.

LIFE APPLICATION
Do not be a mister-know-all. Listen to the voice of those know better that you. Do not neglect the word of your parents, teacher, senior brother at certain point of your life. Seek advice if it is not forthcoming. Taking a rash decision in anger can backfire badly and worsen the situation. Oppression and injustice can be challenged or resisted but must always be considered as a last option. It is wisdom for a person to give way to one who could destroy him even with some chances of victory. It is imprudent to look for trouble irrespective of what you rely upon. Always try to avoid your enemy as much as possible. It is not cowardice. Prudence is the best form of defence.


From the Village Elder,
Okenye
Ụkọchukwu Osebụrụwa
www.igboproverbs.com

African time is a familiar concept which we hear about everyday used to describe a black person has arrived late to an occasion, conference or meeting. It is a way of summarizing a person who did not follow western clock time and promptness in keeping to appointments. But the traditional Igbo man is not disturbed when he comes late to the village meeting, traditional marriage, funeral or in honoring private invitation. The concept of clock time came with the Europeans but our forefathers had a way of calibrating their own time – minute, hour, half day, evening, night. He determines the progress of the day with the length of his shadow. He also has his own method of calculation one year which has nothing to do with twelve calendar months. For him, from dry or festival to another one is one year. He has adapted his own time to suit him, his activities and his environmental needs and challenges. Even when the white man came with his time gymnastics, the Igbo did not did allow himself to be confused with it. He stuck to his more practical and utilitarian natural time framework which has served him better since the beginning of ages in this environment. This is despite all the insistence by the white man that his own clock time was better and should be adopted.
The traditional Igbo man had divided his day into four, namely, early morning (ututu), midmorning (mgbachi), afternoon (etiti ehihie), evening (mgbede) and nightfall (uhuruchi). He does not know when one stops and when the other begins. Often times, it is his activities that determine the time for him such nri ututu (food meant for morning), let me go to work which presumes that it must be morning. They believe that morning controls labour. He talks about Una oru (time to leave that farm which presumably is mid-afternoon or early evening. At times, he uses his work to determine the time of the day such as oge ite nkwu ututu (morning round of tapping), oge nkwu mgbede (time for evening round of tapping), aghasasia ete nkwu abali (when the wine tapper has finished evening tapping). That is the time for fixing Umunna family meeting in the evening when the wine tapper is back. Such time is usually between 6.30pm and 7.30pm. For them anybody who arrived the meeting place within the one hour interval did not come late.
The Igbo man of old also divided his night time into four, namely, uhuruchi (nightfall) (6pm to 8pm) abali (early night, 8pm-11pm), ndeli/ime abali (12midnight to 3am). First cockcrow is by 3am signifying the beginning of day break. At 3.30am, the second cockcrow will come and it is time for people to start getting up from sleep and begin to prepare for the new day. Wine tappers, early market goers especially those who will go to Onitsha on foot will get up. It is also time for children to go to the village stream. Hunters will begin to come back from the forest while trappers will go to check their traps. Early risers were considered more serious persons just as those who wake up late for no reason are considered lazy and a sign of planlessness.
An average Igbo traditional woman has a perfect synchronic use of time and has zero tolerance for time wasting. She will be cooking in the kitchen and washing cloth at interval at the same time. There is no specific time to sleep in the night until she has finished getting ukpaka and ogiri ready for tomorrow’s market time.
Our grandfathers’ sense of time is relative as against white man’s ‘prompt’ ‘sharp’ or ‘O clock’. The white man goes to the office at 8 O’ clock am but the traditional man goes to the farm when he thinks he is free to go and when he is through with what he is doing presently. For instance, the wine tapper goes to the farm when he is back from the tapping and selling of early palm wine or when he has discharged the visitors who came to his house. He eats when the food is ready and not when he is very hungry. In fact, he considers himself less a man when he opens his mouth to say that his hungry. Hence, the proverb that says that it is a child who says that he is hungry while a man says he is tired. When he says he is tired, only his wife will understand what he meant by quickening to readiness of the food.
Often times, when he goes to the farm, it is the quantum of work he has that will determine when he will leave for home. If he is not satisfied with what he achieved, he stays behind and continues to work. At such a time, he gives a proverb that nwata na-ala oru ma ike gwu ya mana okenye na-ala oru ma oru gwuchaa (A child leaves that farm when he gets tired but an adult goes home only when the work is finished). A great source of quarrel between the missionaries and their early African employees was about reporting late for work. For an Igbo man, even he has an urgent appointment with a white a white man at a village meeting or office, he will never bypass the home of his sister whose marital home was on his route. In fact, is a sign bad brotherhood for him not to enter the house of his sister and take some food and drink there. If a close friend lives on the same route, he must call on him, enter his house and take kola nut, a cup of palm wine and even snuff before he continues the journey. Even when he arrives one or two hours behind schedule, he is quite satisfied and holds no apology for the lateness. He simply walks in and sits down and asks the person nearest to him what has been discussed before he entered.
Therefore, it will take a little more time before an average Igbo will begin to keep clock time with every promptness. He is not ashamed of ‘African time’ since it is part of his culture to be humane first. He is yet to be convinced about the wisdom of rushing to come and sit at the meeting venue ten minutes before time when his sister he has not seen for the past four years is living nearby. He is ready only when he has finished what he is attending to at the moment. It could be that things have changed so much today that some people could leave their sick mother in the house unattended to in order to be early to a particular appointment. We are Africans who are gradually learning to be Europeans. Oyibo biara abia. ‘African time’ without apology. That was how we saw it. Or what do you think?


From the Village Elder,
Okenye
(Rev Fr F.O.F Onwudufor)
Ụkọchukwu Osebụrụwa
www.igboproverbs.com

ASCENSION OF JESUS

ASCENSION OF JESUS: THE END A BEGINNING

Today, Jesus brings his earthly ministry to a glorious end. Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven in a bodily manner in the presence of his disciples. He was the person that invited them to Mount Olives to witness his last action in his earthly ministry. There, he empowered for missionary work, admonished them, bless them and off he went. They could not believe what they were seeing. A human being lifted up from the ground into that air without any physical assistance. What is happening? Could it be true? Before they knew it, Jesus had disappeared into the thin air and his next appearance was at the right hand of the Father. The welcome party in heaven was already going on when Jesus saw them still standing, looking upwards like sheep without shepherd. He then dispatched one of the waiting angels to go and dismiss the apostles with the word that ‘as you saw him go today, you’ll see him return’.

Imagine the mood of the apostles as they were going back home. I know that they would be devastated and dispirited that they have been left alone again. They had barely recovered from the shock of the crucifixion but Jesus rose from the dead. Since then, he had been moving about for the past forty days, they thought that he will always be around. But that is what will happen to you when you do not pay attention to admonition and instructions or not taking them quite seriously. Jesus had not stopped reminding them that he must depart finally. He once told them, “Now, I am going to Him who sent me. Yet, none of you had asked me, ‘where are you going?’” (Jn 16: 5).



But he must go. This is because everything that has a beginning must have an end. He has done his part, leaving no stone unturned for the sake of our salvation. He has come, lived, suffered, died, resurrected and now he has to go. Who would not want to go? What if he was feeling home sick? Away from the Father and from the throne of his Sonship for the past thirty-three years. Really, it is time to go home. The Father and the angels will be missing him. He will also be missing the heavenly environment where there is a lot of love, peace, tranquility, no death, no sickness, no insurgency, no militancy, no banditry. There, there is no fear of being kidnapped, robbed at gun point, beaten up by thugs who have come to rig elections, detained in the hospital for not paying bills or bribery in the temple of justice, oppression of the poor and crass injustice.

Yes, he must go to prepare a place for us as he promised after which he will come back. He had to go to give a report to God the Father about his mission on earth and how he fared in his earthly commission and project given to him. He had to go to receive the reward and commendation from his proud and delighted Father who is very happy pleased with this worthy Son of His. He had to go to arrange the coming of the Holy Spirit which he promised the apostles that will sustain the work he had handed over because success without successor is failure in disguise.


He had to go so that his apostles could mature on the on the job and learn to live an independent life of their own. They have to see how all that Jesus taught them would come to reality one after the other, from the least of his instruction to the greatest. What he said about persecution, about having to be killed for the kingdom, about being aware of the yeast of the Pharisees, loving one another, and the power in keeping his commandments. Yes, their faith will be put to test and casting out of devils and deliverance are what they will start and end on their own using the Name of Jesus. They will now learn how to pray on their own without waiting to be woken from sleep by Jesus. From today, they begin to see what it takes to be a man of your own, defend yourself, give instruction and enforce it and take decisions on your own. They are now literally ‘on their own’. They have to. They will later see why Jesus had to go and then thank him.


Do not expect that your parents will always be there for you. One day, you will wake and you may not see them. All that they told you will begin to come to you. There many you did to them that you will regret. There must come a time you must leave the family after graduating. That time, you will begin to look for a city where go to search for job and to settle down on your own. You will not be a student forever just as you will not an apprentice forever. One day, you will become your master and begin to manage.


You will not always be the girl of the house. Prepare for a time you will become a wife, a daughter-in-law, a mother, a teacher, housekeeper all at the time without anyone to supervise you. You can only see one who will come to inspect and criticize what you have done. What he says you may not like but there is nothing you can do because you are in an entirely strange environment like fish out water surrounded by strange neighbors. If you prepare very well now, such a time will not catch you napping.

It was the physical Jesus that ascended but the spiritual Jesus is always here. He is always with us when sleep, work, walk, build, take examination, buy and sell, travel, pray, even when we are sick, old, abandoned or served disappointment. For the apostles, they had to start learning how to relate with the spiritual Jesus but for us, that is the Jesus that we have ever known. We never saw him when he was moving about in the land of Israel more than two thousand years ago. We are the gentiles who never saw him but we believed. We know that he is our provider and our all in all. We call on him when we are threatened, depressed, abandoned, pressed to the wall, deprived of our right and persecuted. It is he gives us the grace to appreciate what is good and beautiful, calms down our heat and sooths our frustration. He gives us the grace to say the truth, to help others, smile in suffering and the burden of life entirely.



Jesus ascended right there before the apostles and they could not do anything about the situation. They did not want him to go but they could not do anything about it. Some of us often boast that such a thing will never happen before me. ‘If I were to be there’ is what they will say or ‘If I were to be in his shoes’. Don’t mind them. They have never seen this world. There are many things that can happen before you and you will see yourself doing nothing or being able to say anything. Your junior sister who lives with you in Lagos can become pregnant right inside your house and there is little or nothing you can do. The touts can invade your car where you packed it and remove your plate number right in front of you and you cannot do anything about it. Your landlord can use soldiers to eject you out of his house and you will not be able to do anything. You can only boast in Jesus.

Many businesses are lying flat and some people’s health condition is pointing downwards. Some families are in disarray and some persons have lost the compass of their lives. Others have rotated in the same social and economic position for too long without being able to ascend to the next level, motion without movement. Even our country Nigeria appears to be comatose for more than half a century. For all these, it time to ascend to the next level for Jesus promised that when I am lifted up, I will draw all things to myself.

Let us wipe our tears, console ourselves and come down from the mountain because as soon settles down in heaven, things will turn around for good in our lives. Only keep being upright, keep his commands and help the poor. Your condition is about to change.

He will never forget you.

From the Village Elder,

Okenye

(Rev Fr Dr. F.O.F Onwudufor)

Ụkọchukwu Osebụrụwa
IGBO PROVERBS

Read the previous part

THE VILLAGE LIFE PART 1

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THE VILLAGE LIFE PART 2

VILLAGE LIFE PART 2

I PREFER A VILLAGE BOY

I prefer a village boy. He is sharper, stronger, swifter in thought, more daring and resistant to challenges of life. He can go without food for a whole day and you may not know it as he carries on with his daily. He runs a litany of home chores on an average day often without any level of supervision.

These are some of the crucial features that distinguishes a ‘local boy’ brought up in the village and his ‘indomie counterpart’ raised in an owner occupier GRA household in the township. The former may not know how to dress cutely or speak Queen’s English but when chips are down and they find themselves in the field of life n future, one is more rugged, tough, resilient, country-home oriented and will be able to stand his ground in the village meeting challenging an intruder who is claiming his father’s plot of land.

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A prefer a village boy because he does not remain a village boy forever. Some of the governors and successful business were once village boys. Professors, medical doctors and army generals. This is because they gotten the basic education and overcome the early family restrictions and poverty, they become unstoppable once they come to the township. At that stage, they very equipped and ready for the battle of life.

I prefer a village boy. Have you not noticed it during Christmas home coming when the two interact in the big family compound? How a small village boy of seven years will be intimidating his returnee counterpart who is twelve years and restricting him in the confines of his mother’s bedroom always. The bigger boy will not be able to resist him because he does not speak the village vernacular and does not know any of the tricks with which they survive.

He does eat everything as he very dependent on selected foods offers little energy and common sense. He does not know the village routes and shortcut or ‘apiam’ ways. The township returnee-boy is afraid of everybody including his father’s brothers, his uncles, aunties and nearest neighbor and even of himself. After all, he has been brain washed by own father and mother that every old man and woman in the village can kill through poisoning especially those who were red caps. He continues to grow with this error in his head. Even as a grown up, he does not feel safe among his kith and kin when he comes to the village for anything until he returns to town.

He is not interested in the village meeting because he does understand their language and idiomatic gymnastics. When he does attend, he remains dumb and quiet until the end of the meeting even as a professor or medical doctor. Even if he has something to contribute, he will not have the courage to stand up because his not sure of his vernacular command. If he must come to the village for anything, he prefers doing so under darkness. He steps into the village around 7.30pm and leaves before 5.30am. He does not want anybody to see him.

I prefer a village boy. Women who married former village boys are not regretting it at all. The village boy knows the names of all their close and distant relations and the ways leading to their homes even in the neighboring towns. He knows the boundary of all his father’s lands wherever they are located because he used to go there to farm with his parents.

On the other hand, his township counterpart relies on his aged mother in the village for such knowledge and when she suddenly dies, he is at the mercy of his rival uncles who will be most unwilling to disclose everything. In fact, when he notices that you have started coming home more than once in seven years, he will stop answering your greeting and declare you ‘over-wise’ and a rival. They are more comfortable when you do not come home at all.


If the township-bred has a case to persecute in the meeting regarding boundary and land dispute, the meeting chairman will cage him effectively by declaring that nobody is allowed to speak ‘grammar’ in the village meeting. In this way, he will be shouting ‘Wat! Wat!!, Wat!!!’. The next option will be to storm out of the meeting and vow never to attend it again. That is how he will lose his father’s heritage to a village wine-tapper. Those whose children speak only English language and do not understand or speak Igbo, this is your lot and I pity you. Often, it does not happen until you are dead with the vain hope that you have a male child who can hold his own like others. A big disappointment awaits you. Those women who rejoice that their children speak only English and boast about that do not know that they are only setting up a disaster in your house. My fellow men, the time to act is now. Be wise.

A village young man can represent his father in a village townhall meeting and could stand up to speak, ask and answer questions especially if the meeting is being held in his father’s compound. If the need be, he can bless that kola nut in the most traditional way and in good vernacular and sound articulation of ideas communicated to the ancestors.

His township counterpart even at the age seventy does not know how to handle the kola nut ritual in Igbo language and cannot speak a single sentence in Igbo language without admixture of eighty percent English words in such a manner that even a visiting American can understand his own brand of vernacular. You will pity him when he doing the funeral of his father or traditional marriage. He begs for guidance even from those twenty years younger than he is even with all the money he has come home with and with all the barrage university degrees. What then do we do?

Early Solution

English Language is very good. It is a gate opener to civilization, wider connection and opportunities. But it is a disaster when a child does not match with vernacular. It is fraught with a lot of limitations and drawbacks when it stands alone. Remember the Igbo adage that a person who knows only one route to a place does not the way to it. Fathers, my fellow men, it is good for your child to learn English Language, French, German, Italian, Latin or any other foreign or local language but Igbo is the first language and the gateway to native intelligence and traditional wisdom.

Put embargo on English speaking in your household. Let them speak it only in the school any other place outside the family. Mandate your wife to take this instruction quite seriously. They will not understand what it means for all your labor to be in vain. Always go the village with your son whenever have an opportunity of doing so. Take him wherever you are going to including visitations and village meetings. You are a village boy. I am also a village boy. Even Jesus was a village boy. Your son must be one too. You will not regret it. Rather, you will live to rejoice and encourage other, your fellow diaspora Igbo to do the same.

To be continued.

From the Village Elder,

Okenye

Ụkọchukwu Osebụrụwa
IGBO PROVERBS

THE VILLAGE LIFE

I WANT TO RETURN TO THE VILLAGE


Welcome to village life. I am going to talk about life in a typical village in Igboland of old and not compromised modern village where things have been made to stand on their heads. A typical village resembles one another in appearance, vegetation, occupation, economic trees, domestic animals and even buildings. When travelling, you may not know when you move from one town to another except by name because they look alike. It does not matter whether it is Abatete or Eziowelle in Anambra State, Mbaitolu in Imo state or Izzi in Ebonyi or Amokwe in Enugu state, even Ngwa in Abia state also look similar. Your own village may have changed a lot into a sub-urban and urban center but it remains a village to you when compared to major towns where we have gone to search for better life. The difference is known to all who grew up there.

The glory of the village life has not left me at all and I know that it remains in you too. Though many may think that living in the village is a sign of being local, poor or not being civilized, the truth remains that the village is more glorious than the township except in wealth and opulence. There may not be so much money circulating there or good roads or electricity or wonderful modern facilities but it remains what it is. The village is our root, the location to find our parents and kith and kin. It is where we go when we want to remember how we began, when we were toddlers and innocent, how we have changed. No matter how you neglect or try to forget it, it is the last place we shall visit when we become motionless, shortly before return to mother earth. In the village, their lifestyle is simple, virgin and they rely mainly on the land and what it could give them. Those who live there may not have any bank account, latest dress or car, not even a big or beautiful house but they are happy and contented with what they have. That is where find native intelligence, tranquility, peace, brotherhood, wisdom, hard work and love dwell. It is our root.

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When you live in the village, you do not think about the house rent or expensive meal. It could be just roasted yam or plantain with red oil and salt, vegetable cocoyam, crayfished onugbu soup, or plane oha soup garnish with smelly but desired ogiri and without meat or fish but it can be very sweet. After eating it, you can get not only satisfied but refreshed especially when it was prepared by your own mother, grandmother or that old aunt you visited. A typical village woman can spend one whole month with less than one thousand naira. This is because she does not need to buy everything in the market. In the village, you have many farmlands from where you can collect many things you need for the next meal. These include yam, cassava, cocoyam, breadfruit, pepper, fresh vegetable, palm oil is already in the house. You can even walk down to the stream and hook up with some fresh fish if you are from the riverine. Your neighbor can give fish or salt if you notice that your own has suddenly finished. You can walk into your neighbor’s house and take a cup of fresh palm wine if he is wine tapper and his wife could even serve you fresh breadfruit or roasted yam if she is around. This will help to oil your stomach linen before drinking the palm wine. Remember the Igbo proverb that says that a person who visits the outhouse ‘obi’ without alerting the kitchen ‘mkpuke’ will end up drinking palm wine without oil in the belly. Again, when you are cooking in your house, you do not know how much of the food will eventually get into your stomach because a neighbor of friend may walk in anytime and it is unimaginable that you will eat it without inviting him or her.

In the village, neighborhood relationship is very strong and it is monitored and reinforced by conventions and unwritten expectations. You dare not see your neighbor in the morning without greeting him or not to answer when you are greeted. It is a serious signal that all is not well and he can report you to the extended family or village meeting because of that. It can go to the extent of telling the meeting that ‘my family is in your hands’ and may be called to explain yourself. For a young boy not to greet an elder on the way is a sign of irresponsible parentage and naughtiness on the part of the boy and your parents could be traced. That is after you have been summon, reprimanded, queried or even flogged by the elder. In the township, not to greet anybody is a sign of gentleman and minding your business and if anybody dares to caution your child, he could receive a serious warning alert and a threat.

If there is death in the neighborhood or in the village, man or woman, nobody goes to the market or farm that day as all roads will lead to the bereaved homestead. There, they will use their eyes to do a role call and take note of all the absentees. You must explain why you were not there or they pay you back in your coin when you need them. Some will donate foodstuff and cooked food to the bereaved to entertain far-away guests especially ‘ụmụokpụ’, the returnee women from the village who have to mourn with their kits and kin. This will cushion the stress of the family who lost a dear one. The youths will take up the duty of digging the grave and mounting an emergency exit house for the dead man, ịma akpata. It is these young men will carry the corpse on their head to her father’s house if it is woman. Every person will to sit down in the bereaved house every morning and evening as if he or she has nothing else to do in his own house. This is called ịnọ ọnọdụ or mourning sit out to encourage the mourner. Not to do this can be interpreted that you are not touched by this death or you are rejoicing over the loss. The reaction of the people can only be imagined.

In the village, everybody knows everybody else including what you do for a living, where you live, the type of person you are and the testimonial of your character. He cares to know your in-laws, the number of children you have both boys and girls and how they behave. That is how they know whether you have ‘a person’ or not. That is why some may say, nwoke a enwekwanụ nwa literally meaning that you don’t have a child even when you have many of them but they are not responsible, lazy or naughty. Any stranger that enters the village must be identified immediately by the first or second who met him and may as him whom he is looking for to ascertain his mission. He could quickly raise alarm if he is not satisfied.

In the village a person’s problem is the problem of everybody. There, everybody is a stake holder as there was no social class or rich and poor. A village meeting alert could be issued if a young man beats his mother or father and the wrath of his age mates will unleashed on him as may directed by the elders. He could be ordered to be given thirty-six lashes or be compelled to go and work in the village palm tree plantation for days. When a rainstorm blows off your house or your compound fence, your friends, in-laws and immediate neighbors will gather to fix it for you without charge only that you feed them twice that day with swallow and fresh palm wine to go with it.

To be continued.

From the Village Elder,

Okenye

Ụkọchukwu Osebụrụwa
Igbo Proverbs

THE LION AND THE MOTHER-RAT
THE LION AND THE MOTHER-RAT

One day, the mother-rat gave birth to four children and after that became very hungry. Since she had nothing in her house at that time, she decided to go and look food outside. She covered the baby rats and left. As soon she stepped and covered a few poles, behold a very big lion that was also scouting for food being terrible hungry himself. On sighting the rat, he rejoiced and decided to start from there. He quickly collected the rat in one grab and was about to drop it inside his big mouth when the rat started begging him to spare her life. She reminded the lion that considering his size, eating her will not solve his hunger problem in any way. She further pleaded with the lion to have mercy on her new born babies who will certainly starve to death if she fails to return to them. She finally reminded the lion that sparing her life could of benefit to him one day as she could be in a position to help him on a day like that.

On hearing the rat mention helping him one day, the lion started laughing uncontrollably while holding the rat in one hand. He roared in laughter so hilariously and shaking the forest that tears started coming out of his eyes. The rat was confused and more afraid why the lion was laughing this way. When the lion eventually stopped laughing, he told the mother-rat to stop day dreaming and imagining the impossible. He told the mother-rat to be realistic and focus on the mercy she was asking for and forget about helping him one day. He boasted that such a day does not exist and will never be. He went ahead to say that considering his might and size, he was capable of taking care of himself whenever he is threatened. He added that if by chance any danger comes his way and he is unable to handle it, even one million mother-rats will not make any difference. After saying this, he threw that mother-rat away and cautioned her about insulting him with such a remark again. The mother-rat got up from the ground after rolling several times and shook off all the sands on her body, thanked her stars and ran away.

One week after, this same lion was caught in a well-crafted rope-trap mounted by an experienced lion-catcher. When the lion stepped into it, the trap exploded and swept the four legs of the lion off the ground and landed it on its back. The two legs of the lion were held together separately by the ropes and the powerful beast not only helpless but also powerless. The animal knew that the end had come. The humiliation of ending in a woman’s kitchen was more torturing to him than the violent end his life was coming to as soon as the owner of the trap appears.

This was the situation of things when the same rat appeared on the scene after another round of food searching expedition. When the rat came closer, she recognised the lion through twisted whiskers the lion was bearing and bold white spots on him. The rat on seeing the predicament and the hopelessness of his situation of the lion decided to help. She came to this conclusion having remembered it was the same lion that spared her life on that fateful day.

She quickly dropped the meat she stole from somebody’s kitchen by the side and climbed on top of the big lion and began cut the big ropes with her sharp teeth. She started with the forelegs before switching over to the hind legs. When the four legs were free, the lion stood up, speechless. He admired the extra-ordinary unknown power in the small rat, the wisdom and the courage and saluted the rat for saving his life. The rat seized the moment and introduced herself and reminded the lion of the boast he about his invincibility and strength. The lion could not control his tears of shame and apologized to the rat for his careless and foolish boast. He promised the rat that he will always defend and protect him in future and that he will instruct his children not to molest rats again anywhere anytime. The end of the story.

MORAL LESSONS

What happened to the mother-rat shows us that there is a always a potential lurking at the next corner of the street looking for someone to devour. Those enemies are often stronger than us and they are everywhere. It could be armed robbers, kidnappers, arsonists, road accidents, sickness and disappointments. Try your best to avoid by hiding in your house as much as you can. Always go in a company of friends and other people if possible. The enemy can become afraid and may not show up.
The mother-rat should learn how to prepare for rainy days and gather sufficient food next time before putting to bed. This will not expose her to such an avoidable danger in future. Remember to save money no matter how little you earn. It gives a lot confidence when trouble suddenly shows up and threatens to put you to shame. If you don’t have up to ten thousand naira in your account when your father-in-law suddenly dies, you will become a laughing stock to both your enemies and friends. You must have somewhere to start from. The bank is not there for nothing.
The lion did not play the role of a big brother and king of the jungle by protecting the weaker members of the forest community. We should not take advantage of those who are not as endowed as we are and deprive them of what they possess including their lives simply because they cannot defend themselves. Be useful to your brothers and sisters, neighbours and friends. You never can tell.

The lion forgot that ultimate power does reside in any human being or beast but on the Creator of the universe. He arrogated to himself the arrogance of thinking that he is indestructible. We must know that great power is reposed in everything including the small needle, pin, even single grain of sand until they decide to deal with us especially when the sand enters your eyes.
Life has taught the lion the lesson he will not forget in a hurry. That no condition is permanent and that there is something that is called tomorrow which can turn somebody’s life upside down and even terminate it. We must act and think in a way that we can see tomorrow and look at it in the face. Remember that anybody can become sick anytime, can suddenly become poor, lose his job for no reason or be incapacitated in a road accident. At such times, the table do turn.

The trap-maker was not clever nor was he vigilant. He wasted to much time before coming to check on the trap. You don’t make a trap and go home and start sleeping. It could catch a big animal and if you are not around to clinically finish the job, you lose it all. We must be vigilant and follow up our all plans. The competition in the world is fierce and throat-cutting. You have to be sharp, clever and focused both at the beginning and at the end any master-plan you lay out. The spirit of ‘over-the-bar’ and disappointment has not been exterminated.
The mother-rat has taught us that you can achieve a lot with good sense, diligence and courage and not always with brute force, physical strength, size or even money.

Again, forgiveness and gratitude can go a long way in healing wounds and liberating our hindered minds. The mother-rat had forgiven the lion for nearly ending life for no reason and on top of that showed tremendous appreciation.
Did you get more lessons out of the story? Tell us your own.

From the Village Elder, Okenye

Ụkọchukwu Osebụrụwa

THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH AND THE NIGERIAN EUNUCH

(Acts 8:26-40)

The Ethiopian Eunuch was one of the persons that attended the great prayer convention that took place in Jerusalem soon after the resurrection of Christ. What could have made him to embark on this journey all the way from Ethiopia in Central Africa to Asia? The journey that could have taken him months because to move from one continent to another on a cart drawn by a horse cannot be expected to be a dash race. He must have gone there to give meaning to his life and find joy in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and in the resurrected Christ. Though he had a lot of money, there was no joy in him because he had no children of his own having been made a eunuch in order to serve the Queen of Ethiopian in her court. This goes to show that money alone cannot bring joy, peace and consolation. It can only help. We cannot abandon all our friends, brothers and sisters and even God in pursuit of money and expect to be happy. He needed consolation and new hope that can only come from God. After the prayers, at the arena, he met people selling sacramentals and other spiritual items. He decided to buy a Bible. What do you consider important when you are expected to make choices, spiritual or mundane things? Things that will benefit your soul or your flesh?

Who is a eunuch by the way? It is a person that has lost his manhood and cannot procreate because he has been rendered impotent. Jesus identifies three types of eunuchs – those who were made eunuch by nature, those who were made eunuch by their fellow human beings (the Ethiopian eunuch) and those who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Gods (those who refused to marry in order to serve God more effectively) (Mtt. 19:12). The Ethiopian eunuch having purchased the Bible and entered his chariot, set out for home. He opened the book he bought and started reading even though he was not understanding. There are many we learn by doing. We must not wait until we become experts before we begin to make attempts. You learn to become pregnant by being pregnant. Moreover, there are many things we do not understand in this world but we will continue go around until we understand better. The world itself is a mystery. After all, how can you explain a situation where a harlot will marry and deliver twins while a virgin will marry and begin to look for a child. Where the righteous and prayerful man will be poor and wretched while a godless man will be stupendously rich and prosperous. We do not understand why an only child of a widow will die while her neighbor will be having ten living children. Indeed, there are many things we do not understand. But we know that God is still on the throne and that He is just in all that He does.

Soon after God remember that Ethiopian eunuch. He instructed Philip to reach him. First, to instruct him and help him to understand the Bible and other things of life and then to baptize him. Philip obeyed and accomplished the two ministrations. Soon after that, he was taken away from the sight of the Ethiopian eunuch. The new convert, in unquantifiable joy, continued his journey home. What are those things that make you happy the most? For some of us, it is drinks, women, money, new apartment, higher education, new plots of land, winning election cases or humiliating our enemies. Remember that these can only give you happiness but can never give you joys which can only be given by doing good to others, loving genuinely, confessing our sings, going to Church and worshipping devotedly and enduring for the sake of peace.

We have met with this Ethiopian eunuch and have identified him. Who is then the Nigerian eunuch? A Nigerian eunuch is that man who refuses to go church on Sunday even when he looks at the church from his house. If he has any problem, he would rather go to consult a cultist, Babalawo, evil temple, fortune-tellers or a deity. If these are unable to help him out, suicide becomes an option. He has nothing to do with prayers has never read the bible for five years and gets irritated when divine matters are raised.

The Ethiopian eunuch admitted that he did not understand what he was reading, a Nigerian eunuch will never admit that he does not know everything even when he knows nothing. He will continue to pretend until everybody realizes that he has nothing to offer. Instead of allowing himself to be made a eunuch, a Nigerian brand will be the one to make his senior brother, cousin, best friend or even his father eunuchs. He financially ‘incarcerates’ his siblings and empowers his own children. He sits in the palace of their father’s wealth and refuses to give anyone his own fair share.

If a woman ruled Ethiopia more than two thousand years ago, anybody who oppresses his brother’s widow and refuses her access to what belongs to her husband is a Nigerian eunuch. If the Ethiopian eunuch went to Jerusalem with only one chariot, anyone who moves about in a convoy of many cars that are fueled with public fund is a Nigerian brand of Ethiopian eunuch. Those who render their fellow human beings useless after they have served them for eight years by sending them home empty handed is modern Nigerian eunuch. Among them also are all those who are serving in the civil service and have continued to falsify their age each time they are due for retirement are in that category.

This eunuch returned to Ethiopia after the pilgrimage, his Nigerian counterpart will disappear from there into Japan or Thailand and make the Interpol appear very inefficient. This Ethiopian allowed himself to be made a eunuch by a woman, his Nigerian counterpart will not even allow a woman to speak in his house even as his wife, no woman will be allowed to win governorship primary election and if he has his way, no woman will be allowed to win any election at all even in the women societies.

May God grant us the humility and the vision of the Ethiopian eunuch when we are depressed or in any form of trouble or when things do not go our way so that can go to God’s house for solution. If you do, he can dispatch another ‘Philip’ to attend to you no matter the situation and will locate you wherever you are. Do not consult any power or force that can only complicate your situation and increase your sorrows (Ps. 16:4).

From the Village Elder,

Okenye

(Rev Fr F.O.F Onwudufor)

Ụkọchukwu Osebụrụwa

THE PALM TREE AND THE REST OF US / IGBO LIFESTYLE
IGBO PROVERBS

Introduction

The palm tree is a very simple tree brought to Igbo land by the Creator for a special purpose, namely to help the poor. No other tree is as useful and beneficial as the palm tree. No part of is useless and everything that comes out it serves one purpose or the other. It supplies multiple beverages to mankind and from them, the poor rural dweller sustains himself. Just take one fruit of it or more, open the ground and put it. Then go home and face other things. It does not need watering or manuring and does not consume much space. This is because it carries out every business at the tree top, leaving the ground clean and bare for other activities. You will not believe what wealth it will generate in the economy of your home. Everything about the palm tree is useful and irreplaceable. Thing about it.

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Benefits / Usefulness

It is from the palm tree that we get palm wine beverage. Three brands for that matter, already brewed and distilled by nature (i) Iti (ii) Nkwu enu (iii) akpo (the one that is got when the palm wine has fallen to the ground, usually very sweet and in good supply). We use all these during entertainment, festival and rituals. For instance, palm wine is the classic wine for traditional wedding. It is the drink of the ancestors and elders. The palm wine is very medicinal and does not contain toxins as in other chemical brews. Drink it responsibly and according to gauge and you will come out in the morning stronger than you went to bed.

The palm tree supplies red oil which we use in cooking all manner of dishes for coloring, taste and appearance. We also use it for frying other things that we do not want to boil such as plantain (dodo), akara and meat. After extracting the oil, the chaff (abubu) is used in making fire. As ngu, it is used for making ogiri paste (castoil cake) and for cooking ukwa when it begins to prove stubborn. The nut at the center is cracked and chewed with ukwa as a special delicacy. It could be chewed alone and the oil in it helps to assuage hunger. The chaff you pour out after chewing is a favorite for feeding the fowls and other animals feeds. The kernel is used as fuel for cooking and for road maintenance especially where it is slippery. The nut could also be fried and the oil extracted (ude aku) serves in controlling convulsion in children and as local lotion or pomade. It is usually black in color.

The palm leaves are used to feed goats and sheep. What remains after this is used as house and compound broom. The center panel is called ogugu and used for constructing yam barns. When the center fiber of the ogugu is removed, it is called ekwele and used in tying anything you want to be firmly held together. The whitish remains in the center of the ogugu is used for staking yams in the yam barn. When the leaves are not eaten by goats and sheep, they can be used for fencing the compound. It is known as ogige. The base of the palm frond is heavy and thorny. It is used for protecting the mud fence (mkpukpu aja) and as fuel for cooking. The strong fibre rope attached to the thorn is called akwala and known to be one of the strongest types of rope in Igboland. Scrape the heavy thorny base of the palm leave (igbeguru) and you will get enough cotton wool for dressing wounds.

The tender center leaf that is yellowish is called omu. It is used for warning and alarm especially as an injunction and restriction of access pending when the disputation is resolved. It is also used in tying ngwugwu ogiri and ukpaka. Omu is also used in giving caution in form ogu, symbol of litigation and justice. The finger-like flower at the tree top is called uduko and it is from there that up-wine (nkwu enu) is extracted. When separated, it serves as traditional candle. This when it is soaked in palm oil and used for lighting the house. This can last till day break. The palm tree provided occupation for many Igbo persons who are wine tappers and they are patronized by kings and princes.

The trunk when turned into timber is used for roofing houses and as pillar. The palm tree is known to be very peaceful and is used for demarcating land boundaries as it is said that akpalakpa nkwu adighi etofe na mba (If you want to demarcate boundary between towns, use palm tree because it does not have branches that may cause confusion in future.)

The palm tree does not have tap root but can hardly be brought down by any type of wind no matter house strong. The palm tree is never affected by any form of harsh weather whether dry season or harmattan. It is always green and does not shed leaves like other trees. The palm tree can last for more than five generations and still remain alive and vibrant. It has no side effect except that the thorn can tear your skin if you are not careful with it or step on it unknowingly.

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Spiritual power of the palm tree

Jesus loved it so much and used the leaves during procession into Jerusalem. It is known as Palm Sunday. The whole crowd was waving the palm leaves signifying peace. It is also a symbol of uprightness and blessing. The Psalmist says the righteous shall grow like the palm tree (Ps. 92.12). The palm tree is also associated with victory. The leaves of the palm tree were also carried at the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:40).

The Igbo people use palm tree to strengthen the destiny and future of a children through the ritual of Nkwu ana (the umbilical cord of a baby is usually tied to a palm fruit and buried in the ground.) The tree so grown will be associated with the personhood of the child who is expected to be very strong, successful and would live a long life. Dream associated with palm tree was believe to indicate that you will live a happy and rich life.

Plant palm trees in your compound and around your houses and the breeze will bring you healing and the tree will bring blessing. Plant one palm tree by yourself.

From the Village Elder,

Okenye Rev. Fr. Dr. F.O.F Onwudufor

Ụkọchukwu Osebụrụwa

THE PALM TREE AND THE REST OF US / IGBO LIFESTYLE
IGBO PROVERBS