![]() ![]() Okika sprang to his feet and also saluted his clansmen four times. There was immediate silence as though cold water had been poured on a roaring flame. “ Umuofia kwenu!” he bellowed again, and again and again, facing a new direction each time. “ Umuofia kwenu!” he bellowed, raising his left arm and pushing the air with his open hand. ![]() The daughters of the family did not return to their homes immediately but spent two or three days with their kinsmen. Uchendu took the hen from her, slit its throat with a sharp knife and allowed some of the blood to fall on his ancestral staff.įrom that day Anikwu took the young bride to his hut and she became his wife. “Swear on this staff of my fathers,” said Uchendu. “Answer truthfully,” urged the other women. How many men have lain with you since my brother first expressed the desire to marry you?” “Remember that if you do not answer truthfully you will suffer or even die at childbirth, she began. Uchendu’s eldest daughter, Njide, asked the questions. All the other men stood outside the circle, watching. Uchendu sat by her, holding the ancestral staff of the family. They sat in a big circle on the ground and the bride sat in the center with a hen in her right hand. So much was cooked that, no matter how heavily the family ate or how many friends and relatives they invited from neighboring villages, there was always a large quantity of food left over at the end of the day. Yam foo-foo and vegetable soup was the chief food in the celebration. ![]() All cooking pots, calabashes and wooden bowls were thoroughly washed, especially the wooden mortar in which yam was pounded. The new year must begin with tasty, fresh yams and not the shriveled and fibrous crop of the previous year. On the last night before the festival, yams of the old year were all disposed of by those who still had them. Men and women, young and old, looked forward to the New Yam Festival because it began the season of plenty – the new year. New yams could not be eaten until some had first been offered to these powers. ![]() The Feast of the New Yam was held every year before the harvest began, to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan. And what was more, she was in close communion with the departed father of the clan whose bodies had been committed to the earth. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other deity. It was an occasion for giving thanks to Ani, the earth goddess and the source of all fertility. The Feast of the New Yam was approaching and Umuofia was in a festival mood. When they had eaten they talked about many things: about the heavy rains which were drowning the yams, about the next ancestral feast and about the impending war with the village of Mbaino. Okoye, meanwhile, took the lump of chalk, drew some lines on the floor, and then painted his big toe.Īs he broke the kola, Unoka prayed to their ancestors for life and health, and for protection against their enemies. “No, it is for you, I think,” and they argued like this for a few moments before Unoka accepted the honor of breaking the kola. But I think you ought to break it,” replied Okoye, passing back the disc. “I have kola,” he announced when he sat down, and passed the disc over to his guest. Unoka went into an inner room and soon returned with a small wooden disc containing a kola nut, some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk. One day a neighbor called Okoye came in to see him.He immediately rose and shook hands with Okoye, who then unrolled the goatskin which he carried under his arm, and sat down. ![]()
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