₦airaland Forum

FrenchWay:
...
Igbos only travel for TWO major reasons: SHOW OFF and JAZZ RENEWAL.

If they are not visiting home to showcase to the villagers there beautiful fiancée; they are there to showcase their wealth from drug deals in Indonesia.

If they are not home to renew their jazz for the next year; they are there to launch their new house(built with ritual money)

If they are not there to show their new rides; they are there to carry a new maid to Lagos that they will end up trafficking to Libya.

I weep for these people.

your comment shows how stagnated your life and dreams are

Lifebender:
So u complain of witches from January to November​ then you travel home to go meet them in December.

yes o, the battle or witches you don't face, you cannot conquer

FrenchWay:
...
Igbos only travel for TWO major reasons: SHOW OFF and JAZZ RENEWAL.

If they are not visiting home to showcase to the villagers there beautiful fiancée; they are there to showcase their wealth from drug deals in Indonesia.

If they are not home to renew their jazz for the next year; they are there to launch their new house(built with ritual money)

If they are not there to show their new rides; they are there to carry a new maid to Lagos that they will end up trafficking to Libya.

I weep for these people.

ndi Yoruba �

Divay22:
I didn't read o
I'm too tired to read this epistle.... Can someone make a summary for me please

you then have to face your conductor work. it doesn't concern you

Alariiwo:
You should be ashamed.. Really!

After enjoying life living among gods (Yorubas) in the SW, you go back to do show off in you undeveloped villages that most of you abandon. Do you even have toilets?

No wonder village people kill their returnees

oga, go to oshogbo your village, not lagos

bumi10:
I personally told my friend that I'm not going to travel this time and he told me to forget that thing. That before new year now I go carry my bag travel, that I'm an Igbo and no matter what, if they tell me that masquerade is dancing in the village now, I will travel. I laughed anyway and got crossed with him instantly.

I looked at him and said "why are you guys so stupid? (He is Yoruba), Why do you guys always have problem with Igbos in everything? Even to travel to their various villages to see their people, you people will still complain. What is wrong with you guys. Lagos is not my land, I got to go and see my people and apparently, you still have problem with that. My friend had to shut up.

Well this article I stumbled upon on net will explain to whoever care to know the reason is necessary for any Igbo man anywhere to come home and see his people at least once in a year during festive periods like Christmas ...

“It has become our tradition to travel every Christmas. I am going with my wife and my children because this is the only opportunity to see our relatives who are based in other parts of the country and even abroad. We meet to discuss family issues. No matter the fare, we must go.” At the Jibowu Bus Park in Lagos during the week, Ugochukwu Anufurum was firm on going “home” for Christmas/New Year celebrations no matter the situation.

The Yuletide and New Year season is one of the few seasons millions of people look forward to every year all over the world. In Nigeria, it is one of the few seasons that bring friends and families together, including long-lost ones, and as such, one that countless number of people always looks forward to.

However, the Igbo people in the South East section of the country are known to have, over the years, developed special interest for this season (seemingly above all others) and as such would do everything possible that they mark the season in grand styles. It is therefore a very common sight to see the Igbo using the occasion of Christmas to storm their villages from wherever they might be, including far away cities like Lagos and Abuja, while some even travel from outside the countries for the same purpose.

The Igbo, as believed in some quarters, love to show off their wealth and flaunt what they have and this they do more than any other ethnic group in Nigeria. It is believed that they use the Christmas time to travel to their villages to show off the wealth they have been able to accumulate over the year.
However, the pan-Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Indigbo, strongly differed as it declared that the Igbo never travel at Christmas because of show off. The group vehemently denied that the mass travelling of Igbo, especially during the Yuletide, is done for showboating, but rather something the Igbo do as a mark of respect for their roots. As such, the group maintained that no Igbo person should ever be vilified over the issue.

In a chat with Saturday Tribune, the Publicity Secretary of the Ohanaeze Indigbo, South West, Mr Peter Anosike, pointed out that only two tribes in the whole world-the Igbo and the Israelis-were known to never joke with their roots and who always ‘remember their homes’ wherever they might be in any part of the world.

“Anywhere we go, we must always remember home. The only tribes that remember home are the Igbo and Israelites. Even when they die in a foreign land, they would prefer that their dead bodies be brought back home for burial. As people that have travelled far and wide, the Christmas time provides the Indigbos the opportunity to see their families and loved ones again.

“So it is more of a home-coming for an average Igbo traveler, because an individual you’ve not seen from January to December, you are suddenly given the opportunity to see such an individual. So travelling home for Christmas is never about showoff and those who have such a notion should discard it immediately. The period provides an opportunity for Indigbos from all walks of life to have a reunion sort of,” he pointed out.

At this juncture, it is noteworthy to state that there are many other festivals that also serve as an avenue for south-easterners to visit their villages, or “home” as it is generally referred to. Each of such festivals is unique in its own way and attracts its own fair share of participants. For example, Easter, another major Christian festival, also serves the same purpose, while there a few traditional festivals that Igbo still hold in high esteem and which they would do their best possible to participate in.

Some of such traditional functions or festivals include: the annual kingship festival, that is, the Ofala Festival, which is mostly celebrated during the Christmas in different villages in Igboland; Iwa Akwa; and the Okonko Festival, which is used as the festival to celebrate the coming of age of male youths. There is also the Iza aha, Ede aro festival (in celebration of the Aro Deity), age grade meetings, as well as the Iwa Ji Festival, which is the famous New Yam Festival, among others.

These cultural and traditional activities would almost always make an average Igboman embark on a journey back home to participate in the festivities. But despite this large array of festivals and their popularity, it is only right to say that Christmas and festivities associated with it dwarf them all.

The real seasons the Igbo don’t joke with going “home” during this period has always been a source of debate, especially among non-Igbo and no matter the length of such debates, the real reasons have always remained evasive. However, inquest into some of the arguments provided by those who engage in this practice and those who don’t might provide some sort of insights into possible reasons behind this annual pilgrimage.

For many, one reason the Igbo travel home for Christmas is to ensure family reunion. According to those who nurse this belief, only few tribes in the world could match the adventurous and industrious nature of the Igbo. Therefore, according to those who hold this argument, if an Igbo individual has been away from his home and roots all through the year, it is only normal for such people to create an avenue for themselves to meet once again in an atmosphere of unity and camaraderie.

Sharing this view with Saturday Tribune, was a Lagos-based businessman and an octogenarian, Pa Uche Anisiemeka, who claimed to have spent over 60 years in Lagos. Pa Anisiemeka’s escapades and success in Lagos have him boasting of an enviable house and other investments in the Okota area of the city. But despite his over six-decade sojourn in Lagos, Pa Anisiemeka claimed to have only missed spending his Christmas holidays in his native Imo State on a few occasions.

“It is common knowledge that the Igbo are very enterprising. They are migrant-entrepreneurs who are endowed with immense competitive spirit. They prefer to leave their families and homes in search of greener pastures elsewhere. They can live in the cities from the beginning of the year to the end without visiting home, but one thing a lot of them would not do is to celebrate Christmas outside of their hometowns, in the company of their families, friends and age-long colleagues. Celebrating Christmas at home is considered typically cultural and it is curiously expected of anyone living in town or abroad to re-connect with the home people during Christmas,” he told Saturday Tribune.

Yet, there are many others (mostly non-Igbo) who are of the opinion that the yearly journey home is spurred primarily by ego, showmanship and unhealthy competition, rather than genuine need for reunion. Saturday Tribune, during the week took up the task of attempting to unveil the reason(s) for this ageless behaviour and as such, some opinions of randomly selected Igbo travelers were sampled. The quest to solve this “mystery” took Saturday Tribune to some popular motor parks in Lagos which, as expected, had become a beehive of activities.

At the popular and ever-busy Maza Maza Bus Terminus in Lagos, a middle-age traveler who identified himself as Chinedu Obasi, argued that no matter how busy one is, he should always create time to remember home. According to him, since it is practically impossible for many Igbo living in the other parts of the country to be travelling home as often as they would have loved, calving out just one period in an entire year to achieve this purpose is not too much. This, he said, is what the yearly journey home during Christmas is all about.

“Christmas brings a moment in a year when all Igbo or majority of them living outside Igboland return to their villages to reunite with their kin who they have not seen, probably in the last 12 months,” said Obasi, who was getting set to travel to his native Enugu State.

Similarly, Chizaram, a 37-year-old native of Abia State, also pointed out to Saturday Tribune that Christmas provided the only opportunity she had of seeing her aged parents, other relatives and loved ones, who like her, were living in far places. Chizaram, who was spotted making last minutes efforts to board a bus, also at Maza Maza, which was going to her hometown of Umuahia in Abia State, said she was willing to brave all odds to make the journey.

She however also hinted that it might be impossible to rule out showoff and show-boasting as one of the reasons some travel at this time, a development she said often served as one of the reasons young men and women often veered to a life of crime so that they would be able to make money at all cost so as to be able to meet up with others. She further pointed out that, in some instances, parents whose children are coming home go all the way to boast about such children and the children in return will do everything possible not to disappoint such parents, including taking to a life of crime.

“To an average Igbo man, going to the village is non-negotiable. Far and near, sons and daughters return home, besiege their respective villages, not only to celebrate Christmas with their kith and kin, but also to provide an opportunity for many families to boast about their illustrious sons and daughters, whom they are proud of,” she said.

But for other travelers, the yearly exodus is nothing more than a family tradition. At the Jibowu Bus Park, yet another traveler, Ugochukwu Anufurum, insisted that the period provided an opportunity for him to attend to salient and sometimes delayed family/community matters, especially since other important stakeholders in such matters would also be around.

“I can say that this is why the Igbo work hard to ensure that they gather enough money with which they can go home for the Christmas celebration. They do this because the communal life they live as umunna would require them to give gifts to their kin when they get back home,” he further noted.


more @ http://www.exlinklodge.com/2017/12/why-igbos-always-travel-home-during.html

What a stupid lie. Yorubas have no problem with you people travelling down to your covens. I wonder why you must always drag us into your issues and misfortunes.

lowgeorge:
You are mad....you must be very mad...you this ibotic fool. ..foolish boy with 14 monikers
Thunder fire you there

hmmm, the frustration in your mention speaks volume. However, you have just enumerated weapons that will kill you soon. of all, why chose thunder for yourself?

Divay22:
I didn't read o
I'm too tired to read this epistle.... Can someone make a summary for me please

after reading the op bullshiit day dream arrogant attitude, I didn't bother to finish the bullshiit story .

Yawn*let me know when you find a summary

FrenchWay:
...
Igbos only travel for TWO major reasons: SHOW OFF and JAZZ RENEWAL.

If they are not visiting home to showcase to the villagers there beautiful fiancée; they are there to showcase their wealth from drug deals in Indonesia.

If they are not home to renew their jazz for the next year; they are there to launch their new house(built with ritual money)

If they are not there to show their new rides; they are there to carry a new maid to Lagos that they will end up trafficking to Libya.

I weep for these people.

HATE SPEECH

FrenchWay:
...
Igbos only travel for TWO major reasons: SHOW OFF and JAZZ RENEWAL.

If they are not visiting home to showcase to the villagers there beautiful fiancée; they are there to showcase their wealth from drug deals in Indonesia.

If they are not home to renew their jazz for the next year; they are there to launch their new house(built with ritual money)

If they are not there to show their new rides; they are there to carry a new maid to Lagos that they will end up trafficking to Libya.

I weep for these people.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote and composed song Don't cry for me, Argentina,

BuhariNaWah:
Imagine the long sermon inside this heat when light no dey.



Chai


Buhari na wah

my friend go - pay ya lite bill

@bumi10 [The @OP].

Your headline title and post are debatable.

The "Come Rain, Come Shine" aspect
of the thread title is historically misleading and
contradictory! There is also hate speech
and insults in your post in the 2nd paragraph
making sweeping/generalized
insults against an ethnic group
- in this case the Yoruba! Take note
of that politically incorrect hate
speech which violates Nairaland
Rules!


During the height of the massive
kidnappings and vicious armed
robberies in Iboland in the early to late 2000s,
many Ibos did NOT travel home regularly and those living
outside Nigeria were afraid to travel
to their villages on visits. Those who
had elderly parents in the S/East had
to quickly move them to Lagos, Abuja,
PH etc, to prevent their parents from
kidnappers who collected huge
ransoms and sometimes killed
after paying ransoms in places/towns
such as Nnewi where at a point
several big traders had to close shop
because of insecurity caused by
kidnappers, and relocated to Lagos
and other big cities in Nigeria
and these were well reported in
the daily newspapers and magazines!


Even Ibos started celebrating the NEW YAM
festival in Lagos State and other non-Ibo
states in Nigeria instead of the village, which was
strange to me because during the June 12, 1993
crisis, Ibos left the S/West in large numbers
out of fear of war [Ibos call the movement to
the South East "Oso Abiola"] but instead they told neighbours that they
were going for the so-called "new yam"
festival. New yam festivals in African
societies in Ashantiland, Yorubaland,
Ugepland in Cross Rivers, etc, are usually
celebrated by travelling home.


All that I have posted here can still
be found via Search Engines in the archives of online
Newspapers and other discussion
forums. With the kidnappings, robberies
in the SE, Ibos were doing the new yam
festival at the National Stadium in Surulere, in
Lagos. Now there is relative peace
in places like Anambra which was
a NO go area before the last 2 governors
came to revamp the security architecture
and now people are able to go home
for holidays in the S/E.


Happy Holidays!

Alariiwo:
You should be ashamed.. Really!

After enjoying life living among gods (Yorubas) in the SW, you go back to do show off in you undeveloped villages that most of you abandon. Do you even have toilets

No wonder village people kill their returnees

lol...have you visited the east before?. You must be a Yoruba guy. you should go there some time.I just finished looking at your recent posts and all of it was filled with resentment for the Igbo tribe to the extent that on a story about an accident that claimed the lives of a family in IMO, you did not even show pity to them...for the Igbo tribe to make you feel this level of hatred for them, then they are the gods. You have a problem bro. ..go and visit a psychiatrist before you run mad on everything concerning the Igbo people. just an advise. lmao

Omg! Who the f**k cares?!

And the op just had to rope in 'Yoruba'. In case u don't know, December is party season in yorubaland. Ive already attended 7 this month. No one cares love.

luvinhubby:
The Igbos never used to have the annual ritual of Christmas homecoming until the upheavals and subsequent civil war of 1966 - 1970. Before, ndi Igbo hardly travel home except on very serious cases and even when they do so, will hardly spend a few days at home, because they saw anywhere they are based as their home.
But at the onset of the civil and the attendant pogrom targeted against Igbos in the Northern and Western parts of Nigeria, a whole lot of Igbo families was forced to run for their lives down to the only safe part of Nigeria for them then and that was the East, it was called 'oso agha' (fleeing the war). Because most of the families that fled to their villages and towns in East then rarely visited home, they did not have houses of their owns that can accommodate their wives, children and properties and most families only had small houses and huts built by their aged parents, a lot of the properties they ran home with was abandoned outside and was destroyed by rains, the children had to squeeze into small, uncomfortable spaces, at times under licking thatched houses, with their parents. The Igbos saw this as a fallout of not visiting home frequently as that would have compelled them to see the need to put up decent houses at their respective hometowns.

So immediately after the civil war and the Igbos returned to their previous bases in the West and North and resumed their works and trading, it became a necessity for every Igboman to do two things, start a deliberate act of visiting his hometown at least once a year and alongside it, make effort to build a decent house in his hometown that will shelter himself and his household during his annual homecomings and to act as his refuge in the event of another oso agha.


Ndi be anyi ekene m unu !

^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^
Well said...and the post is
devoid of ethnic insults!

Alariiwo:
Like I don't get.. must they show off?

Some even borrow stuffs from their friends to go show off in the village. Who the fvck does that.
I can't just deal.

and if Igbos remain in Lagos you will start crying

We Yoruba Muslims, especially from Kwara/Osun/Oyo, also don't joke with traveling home during sallah period. Ours just don't get this publicity.

In my 35 years of living, I have never celebrated big sallah (ileya) outside of my hometown except the year I traveled for hajj (which is same period).

Jarus:
We Yoruba Muslims, especially from Kwara/Osun/Oyo, also don't joke with traveling home during sallah period. Ours just don't get this publicity.

In my 35 years of living, I have never celebrated big sallah (ileya) outside of my hometown except the year I traveled for hajj (which is same period).

“We Yoruba Muslims”
lol

;DAnumpamaAnumpamaAnumpama

One other reason is that they go to show off what acquired during the year and intimidate poor village people. That's why younger boys become more determined to get rich at all costs. A young man with lots of money can bully an average elder in village meeting and even ask the elder to "shut up", what do you have".
Some do bizness charms, patronize village Dibia, celebrate idol masquerades only to come to Lagos to claim "I'm a Catholic".

Hustle you will have money.stop hate speeches,this is the reason Biafra want there nation.

JasonScolari:
This article long pass naira bet slip.

Savage

We travel for reunion, make connections, culture and finally check how good you have come

Alariiwo:
You should be ashamed.. Really!

After enjoying life living among gods (Yorubas) in the SW, you go back to do show off in you undeveloped villages that most of you abandon. Do you even have toilets?

No wonder village people kill their returnees

na human being born this one abi

in the 80 s there was this igbo guy in an area called ungwar rogo in Sokoto called Sunday at the begining of every December he goes to birnin kwanni in niger republic to rob for Xmas money so that particular year he was boldly telling everyone he must go to Anambra state with a Peugeot 505 to show he has arrived all effort to make him shelve the journey to Niger failed till he left listening to no one insisting he must travel for Xmas .
Well on the 27th December news came he was caught along the highway to birnin kwanni on robbery ; those that caught him dump him alive in a deep well without water took pictures of him and drop the pictures at the customs road block at illela and that end his yearly pilgrimage to easth for Xmas .
MANY OF THEM ARE SAME .

Wugo help me read this story wheygo come tell wettin dem talk inside??


Reading is not my hobby.! Ask my mummy.

Was expecting a short sentence, show off!

Jarus:
We Yoruba Muslims, especially from Kwara/Osun/Oyo, also don't joke with traveling home during sallah period. Ours just don't get this publicity.

In my 35 years of living, I have never celebrated big sallah (ileya) outside of my hometown except the year I traveled for hajj (which is same period).

Brother Jarus, I did not agree with you totally because most Yorubas I know had made Lagos there place of abode They hardly visits their village . Compliment of the seasons!

Jarus:
We Yoruba Muslims, especially from Kwara/Osun/Oyo, also don't joke with traveling home during sallah period. Ours just don't get this publicity.

In my 35 years of living, I have never celebrated big sallah (ileya) outside of my hometown except the year I traveled for hajj (which is same period).

Jarus this is unlike you. Please leave these kind of comments. Just read them and leave them the way they are.

You already carved out a niche for yourself in the career sections. And you are respected that way. Abeg let others continue the fight. It doesn't even change anything out there. You are a nairaland statesman.

Thank you Sir.

The Igbos commits all sorts of crimes in order to make money and travel for show off of their wealth during Xmas. There is no fear of God in them. Only small percentage of them fear God. The only language they speak and hear is money. To them, nothing like heaven. Folks, please do not envy their wealth else you get lost. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and lose his own soul. Turn to God today, u might not have another time. Many departed the world before, during and after Xmas. What next, judgment.

oweman:
in the 80 s there was this igbo guy in an area called ungwar rogo in Sokoto called Sunday at the begining of every December he goes to birnin kwanni in niger republic to rob for Xmas money so that particular year he was boldly telling everyone he must go to Anambra state with a Peugeot 505 to show he has arrived all effort to make him shelve the journey to Niger failed till he left listening to no one insisting he must travel for Xmas .
Well on the 27th December news came he was caught along the highway to birnin kwanni on robbery ; those that caught him dump him alive in a deep well without water took pictures of him and drop the pictures at the customs road block at illela and that end his yearly pilgrimage to easth for Xmas .
MANY OF THEM ARE SAME .

Hasty generalisation