₦airaland Forum

DavidDylan:
Go and ask jonah.

Or better yet let him ask God.
The denial of God and his miracles is the definition of atheism
need I say more?

Isn't it typical.
The Jihad of deflection and deception.
Al taquiyyah in a turban
na today?

This topic has been discussed a million times.
Just use search and you may already have all the responses you want.

toshmann:
ezeagu is right, no igbo guy in this day and age fully understands the osu thing. our parents/grand parents/uncles etc tell us conflicting stories. my mother said she does not even understand it fully. she heard it first when she was applying to be a teacher in the 60s. that na my mama o, wey be another generation.

this lends credence to my earlier statement that this thing will die off if no one talks about it. imagine if my mother never heard about it.

anyway, to answer ur question, in summary, there were igbos who were reserved to serve the gods (just like the jews had the levites) they were to live near the shrines and serve the juju/gods/amadioha _whatever. they were consecrated to serving these gods and to be separated from the people so they can focus. but no one wants that job. just like becoming a priest/nun/pastor/ today when young guys want to do business and make money. so they decided to force some people to do the job. usually people conquered in battle . . bla . . bla . . bla . . that was how the separetion began

then somewhere along the centuries, separation mysteriously became segregation . .etc . .etc . .etc things were abused, evil kings came and went and differetn blends were given to culture and then there was stigmatisation. then came the 20th century and toshmann was born. 1st heard about it when i was 20yrs old and i never knew they were there in my village until i lost my mum. i noticed some people were not allowed to come close to my mum's funeral stuff. when i asked, i got muffled answers and i got the message.

ask another igbo guy about this osu thing and i bet u'll get a different story. meaning, we don't really know what happened. and . . wait for it . . . it's not only osu o (this is no laughing matter) there is also umeh, . . i hear those ones are even worse off, osus will not interact with them at all _{(toshmann stop laughing)}

confusion

I, on the other hand knew at some point in elementary school of the term "osu" but up till today,I don't know a single person that is said to be Osu and has never witnessed any injustice on anyone based on osuship status.
I remember asking my dad to explain it and I know he said something about families whose fore fathers served in the shrines who later on became discriminated against as not worthy to mix with other people.
This is Ironic because in India the families of the priests and their servants are the highest caste in India.

The names Nwosu,Osuagwu,Osueke have nothing to do with being an Osu just like Ogundipe and Ogunlola are not necessarily worshippers of the Ogun idol.

sugabelly:
I have a question.

How do you know when somebody is an Osu?

You absolutely have no way of knowing just by seeing the person.In places that have Osu they already know the families that are said to be Osu.

And the non Muslims in the place are expected to feel safe with allah all over the street signs
Northern Nigeria still remains the poorest,the most backward and the most disease ridden area of the nation while they spend money on useless things.

DeepZone:
Why is Houston Texas very notorious for everything? They lead in 419, every other fraud and wife snatching. Tufiakwa. Do you live in Houston?

The greater Houston area has more Nigerians than any where else in the USA from what I hear so it's normal for the 419ers to be more represented over there.
No I don't live in Houston.

goodnite ladies.
we go see tomorrow.

Hotstepper:
hehhe, thats funny, living in such communities gat advantage and disadvantages, I personaly dislike it, 2/3 naija families will do for me,

yes, ma tonw gat it all, rich, educated and the houses dere hhh,, God, o di kwa egwu, hard 2 find any kind of house dere now, can't 2 go home ooooooo

I will take pixs of ma town and post it here when I come back

More disdvantage than advantage.
before you know it gossiping and backbiting will start.
he said,she said
people will start accusing others of wanting to snatch their men.
Go to Houston Texas.
dis husband and another man's wife
communal marriage
tufiakwa!!

KarmaMod:
Lmao. I've heard someone (a Nigerian) complain of this very thing, she lives in Bowie too. lol

I hate it.I have relatives in the area and everyone lives a stone throw from one another.
Tufia.
You can be cooking peppersoup and send your little child to walk across and get one vidalia onion plus thyme from your naija neighbor next door

DeepZone:
So orange drugs is from imo or anambra?

I am off to sleep jare.

na u sabi which one is orange drugs

DeepZone:
I know one in German town and there is another in Richmond. It's like China town but many igbos assemble in joints, own most businesses there and live in that area too. It's like they have such thing somewhere in New york state.

I think it's more a Nigerian thing than Igbo.You know how Nigerians like to cluster around each other .One person buys a house in Bowie before you know it,all the Nigerians are moving to bowie and suddenly you'll have  10 Nigerians living on the same street.
It's so annoying.

which Germantown?
Maryland?

DeepZone:
It's true coupled with the fact they usually have igbo villages every where in the world. May be those that are not disengaged from home can get immediate info about home from those places.

Igbo villages ke?
where are they in the USA ?

DeepZone:
What of those igbos that have those huge multi million transport companies like ABC motors, ekene chuku motors, The young shall grow motors, Claudio and Alessio etc. Where are they from? Greyhound village?

Most of those transporters are from anambra state.
let me tell you about Igbo business men by region.



Most spare parts people are Nnewi of Anambra state
Most textile traders including okirika are abiriba,Alayi,Item area of Abia state
Most electronics dealers are Nkanu area of Enugu state and Mbano area
Most cosmetics  and shoe traders are anambra area
Most Chemist owners are Orlu and Nkwerre side of Imo state.

Of course not limited to these areas but quite a nyumber are from there.

DeepZone:
How do they pass information around especially to igbos living in the diaspora?

They already know from way back that they have it biennially so if you miss one,you wait another 2 years.
Moreover most Igbo towns have their village organizations  in almost every city in Naija and overseas.
haven't you attended Igbo kporakpo parties here

DeepZone:
What is the nature of the town? Are they too populated, rich, educated or what?

Nnewi.
The spare parts people
they are perhaps the richest town in Igboland.
Abiriba is another very rich place The houses are unbelievable.

DeepZone:
What is mass return?

My husbands people do that too.
It's just a homecoming sort of.
where all the sons and daughters from far and wide go home.
My husbands people do it every 2 years.
It's crazy.You'll attend party taya.
sometimes there are 4 parties in one day and for friendship sake you hop from house to house and meet guests you met some where else.

ChinenyeN:
To be honest, I don't think it's about valuing males over females. I think it's about valuing males a certain way and females a certain way. It may look as if it's about valuing males more than females because valuing males is more outwardly expressed than valuing females, but I don't think it is because males are more valued than females. If you were to ask me though, I'd say that overall, the females are more valued than males, but that's just me.

You don't know Nigerian and African culture then.
Do you know how many wives that've been abandoned and a new wife brought in because they only bore females?I know a few
do you know how many husbands that have impregnated random women looking for male sons? I know some
do you know how many women that have upwards of 5 daughters and keep trying just to have a son.I know several
some have died in childbirth looking for a son after being blessed with females.I know a few.

Next to being Childless/barren,bearing only female children is the next taboo in that stupid thing we call culture

Hotstepper you get it.
In some areas of Igbo land now,all the weddings must be at Christmas as a rule.
It's not as though they'll penalize you if you don't but most of them keep to it.

are you doing your Igbankwu this Christmas?

KarmaMod:
why?

because I'm here to have fun.

snazzy82:
@*osisi,u r one of d most gracious members i hav been waitn 4their contributns.Thats.Obviously its more or like spiritual.She later told me she found out that i already know

Thanks dear.
I hate calling everything untoward, spiritual.
It is a medical problem.
Her bladder is not working right and the steps I told you could help her
The medication she could most likely get is called desmopressin.
Most people produce less urine at night because there's a hormone that tells our brains to make less urine when we're sleeping.
Maybe her system is not making enough of that hormone.
The medication will help with that.

_{I've gone against my own rule never to talk medical stuff on nairaland ,your story touched me.}

deepzone tell your inlaw to be careful especially driving out to the cities,these armed robbers are so jealous of success .

A few years ago I was home with the family, all my siblings were also home with their families and we were all together in my parents house.It was unbelievable.
Then before we parted ,daddy laid hands on us all and pronounced blessings on us.
It reminded me of Isaac in the Bible.
It's an ocassion I'll never forget till the day I die.

DeepZone:
They don't need one because his father already built a very big mansion that has over 20 bedrooms, a ballroom etc in the village with constant electricity. My sister said she'll come back with a trailer full of pictures because it's her first time.

Chineke God!!
My dad has a huge mansion but with fewer rooms but my brothers are still building theirs
I think it's a waste but who am I

yes o with a borehole ,satellite TV and generator[b]s[/b] in case one breaks down.

stillwater:
Wow, my family's different

you never went home for christmas?

There was this Yoruba inlaw we had.
he spent all his Christmases in my village with his wife and kids and told us he'd never seen Christmas celebration the way we do it.
We organize tournaments, there are undergraduate student union meetings, there are "disco dances", career seminars for the youth,health screenings  for HBP and diabetes and free meds by volunteer nurses and physicians
People everywhere
lots of food
My dad used to slaughter a whole cow for Christmas and goats for new year.

It is a lot of fun.
sadly there are also many accidents because people drink and drink.
We ate fried meat until; your teeth could chew no more.
Every visitor was served food and drink,some we had no clue who they were.

DeepZone:
I was wondering because my sister and her family are travelling to igboland this december and if you see how her husband prepared for the thing financially and otherwise, you wonder whether there is something else happening apart from christmas. He even bought cognac, wines etc from America and shipped them home since june. My sister shopped a lot of other stuffs they packed in the SUV he also shipped last september for the same christmas. So igbos have that culture way before the christian era?

Yes o,it's a serious thing.
I'm sure your in law has built a house there too.
My cousin 2 years ago shipped everything including drinking water in the container,a car,generator,furniture and decoration for the new house.
They spent money.

Igbos love Igboland  dearly.
Even an Igbo man in Aba who's from Okija makes sure he travels to Okija for Christmas.
It's now called Christmas but the December festivities in Igboland started before Christianity came to Igboland.
There's what we call Mmemme translated to mean celebration or merriment and it differs from place to place but it falls around Christmas time and still celebrated all over Igboland.

Most of our weddings are also around Christmas time
Chieftaincy coronations are at Christmas time
An Igbo man always sees himself as a sojourner wherever he is outside of his homeland.
He could be born and bred in Lagos, or kaduna but he'll forever see himself as an Igbo land and never regards his land of sojoun as his home.
Through out my childhood,I grew up in several cities in Nigeria but we always went to the village every Decemer 20th and stayed there till  January 3rd or so.
It was a time of great merriment,cousins,Inlaws and friends came home from all over the globe and celebrated Christmas in the village.
The ones that came home from Lagos even those from Ajegunle and Ketu will be doing shakara for us[/b]I remember the traditional dances,the masqurerades,the crusades with films in open fields.

[b]Deepzone,I hope your fiance is really an Igbo man,you're in for a treat at Christmas time.
It;s the time to show you off to his friends.
we don't go to sleep till around 2 AM or the fuel finishes from the generator.

Our men build their biggest homes in the village and Christmas time is a good time to relax from all the toiling in the city